Port Vale produced one of the great FA Cup shocks as the League One basement side stunned Premier League Sunderland 1-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals.
It was a tie that looked like a formality on paper for the Black Cats – bottom of the third tier versus top flight – but the FA Cup worked its magic once again as Ben Waine’s first-half header proved to be enough for Vale.
Waine – a Newcastle fan – pounced when Vale kept a corner alive and he looped a header home to send Vale Park into delirium. Five days after scoring the goal that knocked out Bristol City, Waine – a New Zealand international whose mother’s family hails from the north east – was at it again to give Vale their first win over top-flight opposition since a fourth-round victory over Everton 30 years ago.
It is their first time in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in more than 70 years since they made the last eight in 1954.
From the moment of taking the lead, it was backs-to-the-wall stuff for the team 11 points adrift in League One, but Sunderland did not do enough as Vale’s defensive doggedness laid the platform for a memorable occasion.
Sunderland made only two changes from the side that beat Leeds in midweek to move up to 11th in the Premier League, but a side featuring more than £150m worth of talent blew the opportunity of winning some silverware.
The visitors could have led four minutes in when Vale goalkeeper Joe Gauci inadvertently punched a corner back across his own goal, but Eliezer Mayenda’s header came back off a post before Kyle John scrambled it behind.
Sunderland nerves were laid bare when Waine forced Luke O’Nien into a long-range back-pass that left goalkeeper Melker Ellborg scrambling before he made an excellent if unorthodox save by heading over his own crossbar. It was from that mistake that Vale grabbed the lead through Waine via a corner.
Waine heads Port Vale into a shock lead
Sunderland kept pushing, with Gauci blocking Nilson Angulo’s header and then tipping over Dan Ballard’s effort, but there was no denying Vale a day to savour.
Bottom of League One they might be, but yet again Port Vale reminded everyone why the FA Cup remains football’s greatest stage for the improbable.
The FA Cup quarter-final draw is on Monday and will take place before the final last-16 tie between West Ham and Brentford.
Brady: I’m in a state of shock
Port Vale manager Jon Brady to TNT Sports:
“In a bit of shock really, to be honest. We worked out a game plan, worked very hard, we knew we would suffer without the ball and the pitch would help us.
“We’ve got a hell of a schedule. Over a quarter of the season with eight weeks left. Our top goalscorer was taken and sold to Luton, another boy goes to Plymouth and 55 per cent of our goals and assists went away from us. We have injuries in the backline and I have the smallest guy in the middle. But the last six games we have done well, we’re undefeated.
“I asked Granit Xhaka, have you ever played on a pitch worse than this before? He said yes, I’ve played on worse!
“It hasn’t sunk in really. I’m in a little bit of shock of the result. Not because I didn’t think we’d do it, but you need a lot of things to go your way. When we first came in, the team was getting booed off at times, then we turned it round. The referee was starting to get booed at half-time and the fans were getting behind us. The connection with the fans, that’s the most important thing.
Waine celebrates his goal
“Six wins in 14 games for us since we’ve been here. It’s about improving the mindset of the players. We’ve done a lot of things off the pitch to get them believing in themselves. Some of their journeys have been really raw, that’s connected the players together.
“The fans have been through a lot. Our owner Carol (Shanahan), she is one of the most amazing ladies in business I’ve ever met. She said it’s a game of snakes or ladders. If you go down, it’s big snakes. If you go up, big ladders. That was a great analogy from her today.”
Le Bris: We weren’t at the level
Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris to TNT Sports:
“Full credit to our opponent first of all. They played with hunger, patience and intensity. And we are not at this level. It was a second ball game, many duels. We didn’t show enough to impose ourselves today.
“It is what it is. You have to accept it. It’s not easy. It’s sad for our fans, they travelled to support us and we didn’t give this energy to make the difference. This competition is relentless. One game, 90 minutes, anything can happen.
“The lads wanted to do it. But they were not able to do it.
“We needed to manage Granit Xhaka’s load. The Premier League is the hardest objective. We tried to work hard, we prepared hard. If you don’t show the level, you get punished.”
