In the modern era, many domestic cup competitions have lost a little of their sheen due to clubs prioritising the greater riches offered by league football. However, there is no doubt that the magic of the cup still exists, and seeing a team of accountants, plumbers, estate agents and policemen, and perhaps an estate agent or two, beat the pros, is a thrill that all neutrals can savour.
Football is increasingly a business rather than a sport, revolving around money rather than glory and the love of the game. But seeing David slay Goliath reminds us of what we love about the game. We have just seen one of the greatest “cupsets” ever in Scotland, as sixth-tier Darvel beat Aberdeen, fifth in the Scottish Premiership. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the biggest cup upsets in history. We will focus on England but we can start nowhere else but north of the border!
Darvel 1-0 Aberdeen, Scottish Cup, 23rd January 2023
Darvel, top of the table in the West of Scotland Premier Division, set up a last-16 tie against Falkirk by seeing off the Dons 1-0. They scored after 19 minutes and whilst their keeper made some good saves it was a relatively even game, with both sides boasting three shots on target. Aberdeen boss (for now!) Jim Goodwin agreed, saying that “I thought they were excellent on the night, got their noses in front and defended for their lives. They thoroughly deserved their victory.”
Aberdeen, seven times winners of the cup, four times champions of Scotland and the only Scottish side to have won two European trophies, were third in the top flight at the start of November. However, they have struggled since then and Darvel, full of confidence, produced one of the all-time great cup upsets. You can check out the team talk that inspired them too!
Stoke City 2-3 Blyth Spartans, FA Cup, 8th February 1978
Stoke had been a strong team during the 1970s, winning the League Cup in 1971/72 and also making the semis of the FA Cup that same year. They were an established top-flight outfit who finished fifth in 1974 and 1975, playing in Europe several times in the mid-1970s. They even outplayed Ajax over two legs in the UEFA Cup but went out on away goals.
By the time they played minnows Blyth in the third round of the 1977/78 FA Cup they had dropped down to the old Second Division (though they would spend only two seasons there) but they were still huge favourites to progress to the fourth round. Blyth Spartans were, after all, down in the Northern League, had already played eight games to make it that far, and were playing away at Stoke. However, Blyth somehow pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the FA Cup, winning 3-2!
Wrexham 2-1 Arsenal, FA Cup, 4th January 1992
Long before Hollywood came to Wrexham, they were writing their own blockbuster scripts and their triumph over Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup has all the makings of a hit film. Arsenal were the champions of England, whilst Wrexham were bottom of the entire Football League. The Gunners took the lead shortly before half time and surely that was that … right?
Wrong! Somehow the Red Dragons denied all footballing logic and with just eight minutes left equalised. Two minutes later they scored again. The clash ended 2-1, and an Arsenal side featuring David Seaman, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, Alan Smith, David Rocastle, Paul Merson and Nigel Winterburn was sent packing. The Welsh side almost repeated the magic in the next round too, only losing 1-0 on home soil to West Ham in a replay.
Hereford Utd 2-1 Newcastle Utd, FA Cup, 2nd February 1972
Often held up as the biggest upset in the history of the FA Cup, this was another third round clash. Hereford’s 2-1 win was secured after extra time in a replay after they initially held the Magpies to a 2-2 draw at St James’. Purely from a statistical point of view this may well be the biggest cupset, with Southern League Hereford the lowest-ranked outfit to ever beat a side from the top division.
Indeed, much as we may think that the modern game, with its huge gap between the footballing haves and have-nots, reduces the scope for big upsets, Hereford’s victory over Newcastle was the first non-league win over a top-tier side since 1949. Hereford had come into the competition at the fourth qualifying round, so even making it through to the first round proper, let alone the third round, was a sizeable achievement.
The underdogs did incredibly well to earn a replay, managing a 2-2 draw in front of almost 40,000 fans in the North East. A 26 year old John Motson was on commentary duty for the replay as around 16,000 fans packed inside Hereford’s home, Edgar Street (capacity just over 14,000!).
Newcastle fielded a strong side with six international footballers including star striker Malcolm Macdonald. It was “Supermac” who gave the Mags the lead and when he scored after 82 minutes there must have been a huge sigh of relief among the Geordies. However, just three minutes later Ronnie Radford scored one of the old cup’s most famous goals. Radford won the ball off the Newcastle player, played a one-two and then unleashed a 30-yard thunderbolt that Motson said “flew into the top corner”.
The game went to extra time, Ricky George scored for the hosts after 103 minutes and the rest is history. Hereford would be knocked out in the next round, although West Ham needed a replay (they won that 3-1) after only managing 0-0 draw at Edgar Street. Even so, the day has to go down as the greatest in Hereford’s history and one of the greatest in the long and storied past of the FA Cup too.