It’s a scene many fans of small-time football teams look forward to, seeing their club go up against the biggest names in the game and get a shot at making the headlines all around the country.
The FA Cup provides a golden opportunity for lower division teams to pull out all the stops and have a shot at slaying top-flight giants to claim their moment of glory.
In this article, we take a look at six of the best Non-League giant-killers whose historic performances on the field seems to have been scripted for a comic strip Roy of the Rovers-style.
Yeovil Town 2 – 1 Sunderland (29th January 1949)
This classic fixture earned a place in football history after becoming one of the earliest examples of a game where a Non-League club defeated a top-flight team.
As hosts, Yeovil welcomed Sunderland at the Huish Athletic Ground for an FA Cup fourth round tie.
Yeovil’s player-manager Alec Stock managed to psych up his team before the match and lead them successfully to victory, scoring the first goal of the match and handing his side an early advantage that was later followed by Eric Bryant’s winner.
Hereford United 2-1 Newcastle United (5th February 1972)
This match is widely regarded as being one of the most shocking football games in the history of the FA Cup as it marked the first time a lower-division club had beaten a top-flight team since the classic encounter between Yeovil Town and Sunderland 23 years previously.
Newcastle United were held by the underdogs until the 83rd minute, when Malcolm Macdonald’s header finally gave them the lead. Just when a victory seemed inevitable for the Magpies, two memorable goals from Ronnie Radford and Ricky George five minutes from time won the Bulls the game and sent the Edgar Street crowd into pandemonium.
West Bromwich Albion 2-4 Woking (5th January 1991)
This game is another contender for the greatest FA Cup shock ever, when Non-League Woking humbled the technically superior Division Two club with an incredible 4-2 win.
The game started out fairly predictably as Woking were left struggling early on after West Brom opened the scoring, and the Cards went in to the half-time break behind by a goal.
Things turned around dramatically during the second half thanks in no small part to Tim Buzaglo, who scored a stunning hat-trick that gave Woking the lead and paved the way for a fourth goal to be added by Terry Worsfold. In an unforgettable scene in FA Cup history, the soft-spoken Buzaglo was carried shoulder-high by the fans to the cries of ‘Sign him up!’
QPR 4 – 5 Vauxhall Motors (26th November 2002 – after penalties)
In this match, giant-killers Vauxhall Motors kept its supporters hooked until the very last minute, and beyond. Their game against hosts QPR ended in a 1-1 tie after normal time, even though the visitors proved to be the finer team on the pitch.
QPR actually took the lead early on in the game, scoring their first and only goal during normal time 18 minutes in. However, Vauxhall bagged the equaliser just four minutes later and the rest of the game saw the two teams cancelling each other as the game headed into extra time.
Vauxhall Motors finally emerged as winners through a penalty shootout much to the delight of their travelling fans and the general disbelief of the rest of the stadium. This was very much a shock for the bookies as well as the supporters.
In those days much of the sports betting was done ‘in real life’, nowadays the majority is done online. This makes for a particularly interesting experience now football betting can be done even after the match kicks off. It’s a scene that’s very much on the increase with more and more sites catering for UK fans.
Chasetown 1 – 0 Port Vale (11th December 2007)
Chasetown dashed any hopes Port Vale had of progressing to the third round of the FA Cup, after a hard-fought match that saw the Non-League team emerge victorious.
The match saw Vale miss two golden opportunities to score a goal and change the outcome of the game; the first involving a missed penalty by Luke Rodgers, after Chasetown’s Vaughan Thomas fouled Vale’s Calum Willock in the box, and the second also involved the unlucky Rodgers who missed yet another chance just five minutes later.
Chasetown capitalised on their luck and put pressure on their opponents; the pressure told and culminated with a late headed winner by Danny Smith from a Kyle Perry cross.
Norwich City 0 – 1 Luton Town (26th January 2013)
This FA Cup fourth round replay made history due to the fact that it marked the first time a top division team was knocked out of the competition by a Non-League club since 1989.
Moreover, Luton Town became only the second side to beat a top-flight team away from home, as well as the seventh Non-League club since World War II to qualify for the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The stunning result was achieved thanks to a goal by Scott Rendell late in the game, sparking massive celebrations by fans, players and staff at Carrow Road.
