Five biggest FA Cup shocks

The FA Cup is the oldest national football competition in the world, with the first edition of the prestigious annual knockout tournament taking place all the way back in 1871.

Famous for its giant-killing shocks and ‘cupsets’, the competition allows teams from all corners of the football pyramid to face off with the biggest clubs in English football.

We take a look at the five biggest FA Cup shocks in history, ahead of the fourth-round next weekend.

Chelsea 2-4 Bradford City – 2015

Jose Mourinho’s table-topping Chelsea must have thought they were out of sight of League One Bradford when they raced into a two-goal lead at Stamford Bridge in January 2015. A certain Mohamed Salah assisted the Blues’ second goal, only for Bradford, 49 places below Chelsea at the time, to score from a corner just before half time.

What happened in the second half defied belief. Chelsea found themselves 2-1 up with 15 minutes left to play, only for Filipe Morais and Andy Halliday to blast the Bantams in front in a stunning seven-minute double-blow. Mark Yeates slotted in a fourth in injury time to send the 6000 travelling Bradford fans into ecstasy.

Chelsea would go on to win the Premier League and League Cup that season, but not without experiencing one of the most unlikely FA Cup exits in recent memory, with Mourinho labelling the defeat as “a disgrace” after the match.

Newport County 2-1 Leicester City – 2019

It’s no exaggeration to say that a short time before Newport County dumped Leicester City out of the FA Cup third round in 2019, both sides were on the complete opposite end of the English footballing scale. The year the Foxes shocked the world to win the Premier League just a few seasons before, Newport finished 22nd in League Two.

That seismic difference in league positions – 74 when the game kicked off to be exact –  did nothing to deter the Welsh side, who sprung out of the blocks and took the lead through Jamille Matt’s header in the 10th minute. Claude Puel’s side managed to get back on level terms through Rachid Ghezzal’s strike with eight minutes to play, only for Padraig Amond’s penalty three minutes later to send the Rodney Parade faithful into raptures.

Stevenage 3-1 Newcastle United – 2011

Stevenage were enjoying their first ever season in the Football League when they drew Premier League side Newcastle in the third round of the FA Cup, having been promoted to League Two just a few months before.

They however showed no signs of being intimidated by their opponents, and, after a goalless first half, raced into a two-goal lead early in the second period thanks to strikes from Stacy Long and Michael Bostwick. Magpies substitute Cheick Tiote was then sent off and although Joey Barton pulled a goal back for the visitors, Peter Winn made sure of the result in front of jubilant crowd in injury-time.

West Bromwich Albion 2-4 Woking – 1991

Widely renowned as the biggest FA Cup upset of all time. Pretty much nobody gave borderline amateur side Woking from the Isthmian League – the eighth division of English football – a chance against a West Brom team sitting in the old second division when the two sides faced each other over three decades ago.

Woking did it the hard way by falling behind to their more illustrious hosts in the first half, arriving commendably 1-0 down at the break. The second-half, however, would go down in Woking legend, with Tim Buzaglo scoring an unbelievable 11-minute hat-trick to inspire Geoff Chapple’s side to create an emphatic giant-killing that would live long in the memory.

Hereford United 2-1 Newcastle United – 1972

Probably the most famous giant killing in FA Cup history took place at the expense of Newcastle United once again – with Hereford United becoming the lowest-ranked non-league side to beat a top-flight opposition in English footballing history.

The fixture was actually a replay – with Hereford somehow snatching a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park thanks to player-manager Colin Addison’s late equaliser, but the west Midlands side went one further in front of their 14,000 fans in the home tie, with the game bizarrely being postponed three times due to bad weather.

Newcastle took the lead late in the game with Malcolm Macdonald’s 82nd minute strike, only for part-time carpenter Ronald Radford to equalise three minutes later. In extra time, Ricky George’s brilliant effort sparked a pitch invasion from the home crowd, with Hereford able to hold on against their stunned opponents.

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