LONDON, Nov 30: Third division Doncaster Rovers pulled off the biggest shock of their 126-year history on Tuesday when they beat Premier League Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the League Cup quarterfinals for the first time.

Doncaster, who returned to the Football League only two years ago after dropping to the Conference in 1998, fully deserved their victory and could easily have had more goals against a full-strength Villa team who barely mustered a shot.

In the night’s other two games the Premier League teams went through as Arsenal beat Reading 3-0 at Highbury and Birmingham City beat Millwall on penalties after a 2-2 draw in London.

Doncaster, who knocked out Manchester City on penalties in the last round, looked confident from the start as 10,500 fans packed the Belle Vue Stadium, their biggest crowd for 30 years.

They took the lead in the 20th minute with a Michael McIndoe penalty and doubled it seven minutes into the second half with a Paul Hefferman shot.

Villa were then frustrated as a penalty appeal for a foul on Milan Baros was rejected and the five-time winners of the trophy never looked like matching their escape of the previous round when they came from 3-1 down at halftime to beat Wycombe Wanderers 8-3.

Doncaster’s previous best in the tournament was the fifth round in 1976 and they made sure of surpassing that 11 minutes from time when Irish midfielder Sean Thornton lashed in the third goal from 20 metres.

“To turn it on against a Premier team is great,” Doncaster manager Dave Penney told Sky Sports. “We deserved that.

“We work hard, we play a high tempo, we’ve got some confidence, the front two are looking sharp and it’s all clicking together now,” he said of his team, with an average age of 24, who won only one of their first eight games this season.

Villa manager David O’Leary was annoyed about both penalty decisions — one given and one not — but had few excuses.

“They play good football and in the second half they were better than us,” he said. “We came here not with a patched up side, we came to win, we wanted to do well in this competition.”

In contrast, Arsenal fielded a team largely made up of reserves against second division Reading but two of their first team regulars made the difference.

Jose Antonio Reyes fired them ahead after 12 minutes and Robin van Persie got his eighth goal in eight games just before halftime.

Arturo Lupoli completed the scoring in the 65th minute to end Reading’s 23-match unbeaten run.

Millwall, bottom of the second division, came from behind in normal time and extra time to finish level at 2-2 with Birmingham City but went out 4-3 on penalties.

The remaining five fourth round ties will be played on Wednesday, including three all-Premier League clashes — Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion, Charlton Athletic v Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic v Newcastle United.

Crystal Palace, who knocked out European champions Liverpool in the previous round, travel to Middlesbrough while Bolton Wanderers host Leicester City.

Results:

Fourth round:

Arsenal 3 Reading 0

Doncaster Rovers 3 Aston Villa 0

Millwall 2 Birmingham City 2

(Birmingham City win 4-3 on penalties.

—Reuters