West Ham, Leeds and Sunderland knocked out of League Cup

WOLVERHAMPTON, England: Substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen scored twice in two minutes as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat fellow Premier League strugglers West Ham United 3-2 to reach the third round of the League Cup on Tuesday.

Promoted Leeds United and Sunderland followed West Ham out of the competition, losing on penalties to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday and third tier Huddersfield Town respectively.

Strand Larsen came on in the 73rd minute and made an immediate impact, the Norwegian striking in the 82nd and 84th to turn around the match at Molineux after Lucas Paqueta had headed West Ham in front in the 63rd.

Rodrigo Gomes had scored Wolves’ first goal of the season two minutes before halftime, after Hwang Hee-chan’s penalty rebounded off the post, but Tomas Soucek headed an equalizer in the 50th.

The battle between the top flight’s bottom two teams provided no respite for West Ham manager Graham Potter, whose side have been thrashed 5-1 by Chelsea and 3-0 by Sunderland in the league.

Leeds went out 3-0 on penalties after fulltime at Hillsborough ended 1-1, a shock result watched from afar by many Wednesday fans who boycotted the match in protest at the financially-troubled second-tier club’s Thai owner.

US international goalkeeper Ethan Horvath was the home hero, the man of the match mobbed by his teammates after saving twice and keeping a clean sheet in the shootout on his debut after joining on loan.

“I have been in the door four or five days. I had to learn 10 new names in the first match I played and in this game I had to learn another 10 new names,” Horvath told Sky Sports television.

League One Huddersfield won their shootout 6-5 after regulation time at the Stadium of Light ended 1-1.

Brentford