League One strugglers Port Vale are into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup for the first time in 72 years after boyhood Newcastle fan Ben Waine scored to stun Premier League Sunderland 1-0.
Five days after getting the goal that knocked out Bristol City, Waine — a New Zealand international whose mum’s family hails from the north east — was at it again as his 28th-minute header gave Vale their first win over top-flight opposition since a fourth round win over Everton 30 years ago.
Jon Brady’s side sit rock bottom of the third tier, 11 points from safety in a 150th anniversary season that has offered little to celebrate so far, but this will go down as a famous day as they reached the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time since advancing to the semifinals in 1954.
Waine’s header was their only attempt on target in the 90 minutes but few inside Vale Park cared as the final whistle was greeted with huge celebrations.
Sunderland had 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 £150million ($201m) worth of talent blew the opportunity for the two-time FA Cup winners to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 1974.
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.
Both sides struggled to put moves together on Vale Park’s poor pitch, but the hosts were at least used to the surface and looked the more comfortable.
Sunderland nerves were laid bare when Waine forced Luke O’Nien into a long range back pass that left goalkeeper Melker Ellborg — the January signing who only made his debut in Tuesday’s win over Leeds — scrambling before he made an excellent if unorthodox save by heading over his own crossbar.
But that led to two corners and from the second, Vale took the lead.
Waine initially knocked Ethon Archer’s cross down for Dajaune Brown but when he mishit a shot, it looped back up for Waine to head home.
Five minutes later Habib Diarra should have levelled but his attempted lob landed the wrong side of the post.
Regis Le Bris no doubt had plenty to say to his Sunderland players at the break and they were quickly on the attack in the second half.
An early corner created all sorts of problems as Liam Gordon got in Gauci’s way, with Jordan Gabriel heading Diarra’s looping shot off the line before Chemsdine Talbi’s shot was stopped by the goalkeeper.
There was then a huge moment at the other end as Ellborg cleaned out George Hall as he charged towards the box.
Anthony Taylor produced a yellow card and, despite the fury of the home fans, that was how it stayed after a VAR check, with a heavy touch from Hall before the tackle enough to save Ellborg.
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.
