WATFORD, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Heurelho Gomes of Watford in action during the Barclays Premier League match between Watford and Southampton at Vicarage Road on August 23, 2015 in Watford, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Watford were the major Capital One League Cup second-round casualty as Stoke, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Aston Villa just avoided shocks.
Watford are still without a win this season after slipping to a 1-0 defeat at Championship Preston thanks to Marnick Vermijl's first goal for North End.
Teenage striker Joe Dodoo also netted a treble while Andrej Kramaric was on target too as Leicester progressed courtesy of a 4-1 win at Bury, for whom Danny Mayor scored.
Jermain Defoe's hat-trick spared Sunderland's blushes, however, as they defeated Exeter 6-3 in a thrilling Capital One Cup clash.
The Black Cats fielded a strong line-up but conceded three times in the first half as their defence was frequently exposed again, before they ultimately rallied to break the visitors' spirit in the second period. The hosts were 2-0 up through Jack Rodwell and Defoe before Emmanuel Oyeleke and David Wheeler brought the Grecians back into the match.
Defoe's second was cancelled out by Tom McCready prior to half-time, yet Rodwell headed in another, Duncan Watmore tapped in to celebrate his England Under-21 call-up and Defoe swept home a third late on.
Aston Villa were also given a shock by League Two Notts County as Tim Sherwood's side had to come from behind on three occasions to secure a 5-3 win.
Genaro Snijders put County ahead with a deflected effort in the 17th minute, only for Adama Traore to equalise with a close-range finish soon after. Jon Stead then put the visitors 2-1 up with the penalty, and after Scott Sinclair levelled for a second time just before half-time, Graham Burke gave County a 3-2 lead before Sinclair scored again from the spot with 11 minutes remaining.
Sinclair completed his hat trick in extra-time before Joe Bennett completed the scoring.
Stoke, meanwhile, needed penalties to get the better of another League Two side, Luton, after a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.
Cameron McGeehan's last-gasp equaliser cancelled out Jon Walters' opener to send the game into extra-time, but Scott Griffiths was the only player from 15 to miss his penalty as Stoke prevailed 8-7 courtesy of Geoff Cameron's final spot kick.
West Brom also needed penalties to progress against League One Port Vale, the Premier League side prevailing 5-3 in the shootout after a 0-0 draw at The Hawthorns. James Chester scored the winning penalty for Tony Pulis' side.
Crystal Palace did not quite go the distance in their game against Shrewsbury but did need extra-time to complete a 4-1 victory over the League Two side, Dwight Gayle, Glenn Murray, Chung yong-Lee and Wilfried Zaha scored the goals after Matt Tootle had put the visitors ahead at Selhurst Park.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth and Newcastle both struck four in convincing victories over Hartlepool and Northampton respectively.
Junior Stanislas claimed a brace while Yann Kermorgant and Dan Gosling each scored in the first half of the Cherries' 4-0 success. Florian Thauvin opened his Newcastle account on his full debut, with Siem De Jong, Daryl Janmaat and Mike Williamson also finding the net against the Cobblers, for whom Marc Richards converted a penalty in a 4-1 loss.
Meanwhile, Ricky van Wolfswinkel's first Norwich goal in two years followed Jonny Howson's first-half effort, before Paul Green pulled one back, as the Canaries saw off Rotherham 2-1.
Nathan Dyer, Matt Grimes and Marvin Emnes found the net for Swansea in a 3-0 triumph over York.
League Two Carlisle won 2-1 at QPR thanks to Jason Kennedy's winner 11 minutes from time after Derek Asamoah and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas traded goals.
Ipswich beat Doncaster 4-1 after extra-time, goals coming from Brett Pitman, David McGoldrick, James Alabi and Ryan Fraser, while Middlesbrough required the extra 30 minutes to see of Burton, Christian Stuani's double seeing Aitor Karanka's side through.
Josh Murphy's extra-time goal gave MK Dons a 2-1 win over fellow Championship side Cardiff after Alex Revell opened the scoring for the Welsh side and Carl Baker equalised.
Braces from Wes Thomas and Ross McCormack helped Birmingham and Fulham to victories, 2-0 and 3-0 respectively over Gillingham and nine-man Sheffield United, while Greg Luer's strike settled Hull's tie with Rochdale 1-0 in the hosts' favour.
Charlton were 4-1 victors over Peterborough - Mikhail Kennedy, Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Ahmed Kashi and Igor Vetokele all scoring for the Addicks - while Garath McCleary's 84th-minute finish earned Reading a 2-1 success over Portsmouth, who had led through Conor Chaplin before Nick Blackman levelled.
Walsall won 2-1 against Brighton, Wolves defeated Barnet by the same scoreline and Atdhe Nuhiu's goal earned Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0 success over Oxford at Hillsborough.
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