The third round of the 2011/12 Carling Cup is now over after tonight's fixtures around England were completed. Liverpool got the better of Championship outfit Brighton & Hove Albion at Amex Stadium where the Seagulls had a home record attendance of 22,374 at Amex Stadium.
The match marked the first goal from Craig Bellamy since his return to the Anfield club and it was also the first game in six months for skipper Steven Gerrard who came off the bench in the second half to see Dirk Kuyt grab the Reds' second.
Gus Poyet's impressive Brighton outfit pulled one back late through Ashley Barnes from the penalty spot but it wasn't enough as Kenny Dalglish enjoyed a winning night away from Anfield after two straight losses on the road in the league.
Manchester City defeated Birmingham City 2-0 at Etihad Stadium with Owen Hargreaves capping his third competitive game in more than two years with a maiden City goal from 25 yards in the 17th minute with Mario Balotelli scoring the other for Roberto Mancini's men who remain undefeated in eight games since the Community Shield loss in early August.
Southampton managed to beat Preston North End 2-1 thanks to Adam Lallana's 66th minute winner whilst Everton completed a terrific comeback to edge West Bromwich Albion 2-1 with Marouane Fellaini canceling out Chris Brunt's penalty in the final minute of regular time before club captain Phil Neville grabbed the winner in the first half of extra-time.
And there were two games which went to penalties with Chelsea overcoming Fulham 4-3 in the shootout at Stamford Bridge after extra-time ended scoreless whilst Cardiff City and Leicester City played out an epic 2-2 draw with the Welsh club prevailing 7-6 in their shootout.
2011/11 Carling Cup third round scores
Cardiff City (CHA): 2 (Don Cowie 33', Rudy Gestede 82', *Cardiff won 7-6 on penalties) Leicester City (CHA): 2 (Steve Howard 40', Lloyd Dyer 66') Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Brighton & Hove Albion (CHA): 1 (Ashley Barnes (p) 90') Liverpool (PREM): 2 (Craig Bellamy 7', Dirk Kuyt 81') Amex Stadium, Brighton
Southampton (CHA): 2 (Jos Hooiveld 27', Adam Lallana 66') Preston North End (L1): 1 (Adam Barton 52') St Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Manchester City (PREM): 2 (Owen Hargreaves 17', Mario Balotelli 38') Birmingham City (CHA): 0 Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Chelsea (PREM): 0* Chelsea won 4-3 on penalties Fulham (PRE): 0 Stamford Bridge, London
Everton (PREM): 2 (Marouane Fellaini 89', Phil Neville 103') West Bromwich Albion (PREM): 1 (Chris Brunt (p) 57') Goodison Park, Liverpool
The draw for the fourth round will take place on Saturday, 24 September 2011 and the actual fourth round will take place in the week commencing 24 October 2011.
