Port Vale cause FA Cup shock to reach quarter-finals
- By Reuters -
- Mar 08, 2026
BURSLEM, England – Third-tier strugglers Port Vale pulled off the shock of the FA Cup fifth round to beat Premier League Sunderland 1-0 and reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954 on Sunday.
Ben Waine’s 28th-minute goal proved enough to clinch a famous victory for the Vale Park club who are in danger of being relegated from League One this season.
There was another surprise, albeit a milder one, earlier on Sunday as Premier League Fulham were beaten 1-0 at home by second-tier Southampton.
Southampton became the first non Premier League club to reach the quarter-finals of this season’s competition thanks to a late penalty by substitute Ross Stewart after Finn Azaz was brought down in the area by Joachim Andersen.
They were later joined by Port Vale who stunned Sunderland with a gritty display on a threadbare pitch.
Sunderland, mid-table in the Premier League and 57 places higher than League One bottom club Port Vale, were pedestrian against their fired-up hosts and paid the penalty.
Waine headed in after Sunderland failed to clear a corner and the hosts deservedly held on despite some late pressure.
The 24-year-old New Zealand international had also scored the winner against second-tier Bristol City in midweek in a delayed fourth-round tie.
“We are on a bit of a roll at the moment,” Waine said. “I know it wasn’t pretty to watch but we dug in so hard and I think we deserved it. We lose this pitch here and we played to the conditions. We defended for our lives.”
Former winners Southampton are back in the quarter-finals having reached there in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and they thoroughly deserved to see off a lacklustre Fulham.
Even before Stewart’s stoppage-time penalty, Fulham keeper Benjamin Lecomte had been forced into saves from Azaz and Tom Fellows as the visitors played the better football.
Southampton and Port Vale join a powerful-looking quartet already through to the last eight with Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in the hat for the quarter-finals.