Photo courtesy of Andrew J W
Manchester United’s trip to face Cambridge United in the FA Cup fourth round will doubtless evoke memories of past shocks in the competition.
United have already avoided one possible giant-killing at Yeovil Town in the third round. Now the Premier League club face League Two opposition in the form of Cambridge, who are enjoying their first season back in the Football League.
Ahead of the game, we look at five previous occasions when the bottom division has stunned the top flight and also turned football betting on its head.
Colchester 3 Leeds 2 (February 1971)
Colchester had done well just to reach the fifth round, but were given no chance of progressing any further when Don Revie’s powerful Leeds side came to town.
Yet those who had written off Colchester had not counted on the impact of a former England international and First Division title winner from the 1960s.
Ray Crawford scored twice as Colchester claimed a 3-0 lead. Leeds rallied with goals from Norman Hunter and Johnny Giles, and had almost 20 minutes to score an equaliser. But Colchester stood firm.
Shrewsbury 2 Everton 1 (January 2003)
Perhaps it was meant to be that a team managed by a man who had captained Everton to FA Cup success would mastermind one of his old club’s most embarrassing results.
Kevin Ratcliffe was in charge of Shrewsbury and saw Nigel Jemson open the scoring on 37 minutes. Niclas Alexandersson equalised before Jemson struck an 88th minute winner.
However, the result failed to galvanise Shrewsbury as they ended the season bottom and were relegated from the Football League.
The Stevenage party begins.
Stevenage 3 Newcastle 1 (January 2011)
Only in the job for a few weeks after replacing Chris Hughton, it was hardly the ideal start for Newcastle manager Alan Pardew. It could be argued he never really recovered from this setback in terms of his popularity with the fans.
Stevenage scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Cheick Tiote was sent off for Newcastle.
Peter Winn added a third for Stevenage and even a late Joey Barton consolation couldn’t dampen their day.
Swansea 1 West Ham 0 (January 1999)
You wouldn’t bat an eyelid if this was the result now, but back in 1999, Swansea were in the bottom division and facing a West Ham side which would go on to finish fifth in the Premier League.
Only a Julian Dicks equaliser on 87 minutes spared West Ham the ignominy of a home defeat in the third round.
Swansea didn’t let West Ham off the hook in the replay, though, as Martin Thomas’ 29th minute goal sealed the upset.
Wrexham 2 Arsenal 1 (January 1992)
One of the most famous FA Cup upsets saw Wrexham, who had been bottom of the Football League the previous season, beat reigning champions Arsenal.
Alan Smith’s goal put Arsenal in front and seemingly on track for a routine win.
But veteran midfielder Mickey Thomas’ free-kick drew Wrexham level on 82 minutes before Steve Watkin scored the winner two minutes later.
