West Bromwich Albion survived a Capital One Cup scare by beating Oxford United 7-6 in a penalty shootout in their second-round tie at The Hawthorns tonight.
New boy Jason Davidson scored the decisive spot kick in sudden death to see the Baggies through.
Deputy Oxford goalkeeper Max Crocombe was briefly the hero when he saved spot kicks from James Morrison and Brown Ideye, but Boaz Myhill matched his efforts, while Tom Newey dragged wide as Michael Appleton's team fell just short of an upset.
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An own goal from John Mullins had for a long time appeared to be enough for Albion to progress, but Danny Hylton scored for minutes from the end for Oxford to send the match tie into extra time.
Mullins sliced the ball into his own net on 29 minutes after Andre Wisdom, who was a constant attacking outlet for the Baggies from right-back, got to the byline and crossed into the six-yard box.
The pace of forward trio Saido Berahino, Stephane Sessegnon and Ideye also caused Oxford problems as the hosts dominated early on against a side who has lost every one of their League Two games this term.
Club-record signing Ideye, who was making his first start for West Brom since his arrival, combined well with Sessegnon before drilling a shot wide from the edge of the box on 36 minutes, and a last-ditch interception from Josh Wright denied the £10m man an easy tap-in on the stroke of the break.
The Nigerian striker and Berahino had shots blocked in the early stages of the second period, and Claudio Yacob should have doubled Albion's advantage when he headed straight at goalkeeper Crocombe.
The U's began to work their way back into the game after an hour of play, with Carlton Morris bending a shot wide of the post moments after Gareth McAuley made a brave block from Josh Ruffels.
They took this momentum into the 86th minute when Hylton latched on to a knockdown from debutant Will Hoskins, who came on as a substitute, to convert past Myhill from six yards out.
Colombian midfielder Cristian Gamboa came on for his Baggies bow in extra time, but it was Oxford who managed to carve out a couple of chances as Myhill saved from Alex Jakubiak and Junior Brown.
The tie swung back in West Brom's favour when Brown was shown a second yellow card on 111 minutes after fouling Craig Dawson, who had a 120th-minute goal disallowed for a push in the box.
Hylton was the only player to score any of the first five penalties, but each team then knocked in six on the bounce to leave the contest on a knife edge when Wright stepped up and missed for Oxford.
Davidson converted Albion's ninth spot kick of the shootout as Albion avoided following top-flight counterparts Manchester United, Burnley, Leicester City and West Ham United out at this early stage.
Joe Fish
