AFC Sunderland suffered an embarrassing defeat at Port Vale in the FA Cup round of 16. The third division bottom club celebrated one of the greatest successes in the club’s history.
Southampton coach Regis Le Bris refrained from making any major changes in Stoke-on-Trent, with only Rigg and Talbi coming in for Hume and Sadiki after the 1-0 league win at Leeds United. But that didn’t change the fact that the last remaining third-division team—Mansfield had been defeated by Arsenal FC the day before—took the lead in the 29th minute on the bumpy pitch. New Zealander Waine headed the ball over keeper Ellborg into the goal after a corner kick. In the 4th minute, Sunderland striker Mayenda had hit the post with a header. The Black Cats were then unable to find a way past a deep-lying Port Vale side, who are eleven points adrift of safety in the third-tier League One and facing relegation. During the week, the home side had struggled to qualify for the round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Bristol City after 120 minutes, but the Premier League side failed to capitalize on their freshness after the restart and were left frustrated.
In the end, even almost 70 percent possession and 17 shots on goal were not enough to equalize against the self-sacrificing underdogs. Even the late substitution of Xhaka failed to provide any decisive impetus in front of the 4,611 enthusiastic spectators at Vale Park.
For the first time since 1954, Port Vale is back in the quarterfinals, marking the fifth victory in this competition for coach Jon Brady’s team. This is all the more surprising given that Port Vale has only managed six wins in 32 league games.
Coach Brady praises his goalkeeper
“Look at this place, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said match-winner Waine after the game on TNT Sports. “I know it wasn’t pretty to watch, but we put so much into it that I think we deserved it.”
Coach Brady could hardly believe his luck either. “We knew we had to suffer, we knew that the pitch might have helped us. Joe Gauci made some incredible saves,” he said, praising his team’s keeper. “I haven’t really realized it yet. Not that I didn’t believe we could do it, but you need a few things to go your way.”
On Monday evening, it will be clear who Port Vale will face in the quarterfinals. Just before that, Southampton, coached by German Tonda Eckert, caused an upset with a 1-0 win at the Premier League club.
