Port Vale stun Sunderland to reach first FA Cup quarter-final in 72 years

Ben Waine scored the winner in Port Vale’s shock 1-0 win over Sunderland, which takes the League One strugglers into the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time since 1954

Ben Waine, a Newcastle fan from New Zealand, scored the goal that knocked the Premier League side Sunderland out of the FA Cup to take Port Vale, bottom of League One, into the quarter-finals for the first time in 72 years.

The 24-year-old striker has scored two FA Cup winners in five days, after his goal against Bristol City in the delayed fourth-round game on Tuesday enabled the Potteries club to reach the fifth round for the first time in 30 years, back when John Rudge’s side beat Everton in a fourth round replay.

Here, however, Wane went one better as Vale made light of the 56 league places between them and Régis Le Bris’s ordinarily elite side. Sunderland have enjoyed an excellent first season back in the Premier League but here, on a rutted pitch in front of a vociferous and increasingly believing crowd, they were outdone by a side who have won only six league games all season but have now won five in the FA Cup.

The pitch down Port Vale’s right flank was corrugated enough to make controlling the ball difficult even in the warm-up. So it was no great surprise, once the League One strugglers had survived some early nervous moments, that the quality of the game deteriorated to a pleasing degree – pleasing, for the neutral, in that there was a clear sense of jeopardy.

It was from that side of the pitch that Luke O’Nien, under pressure from Waine and facing his own goal in the 26th minute, was so intent on ensuring he did not underhit his backpass that he almost scored one of the most memorable FA Cup own goals in living memory. He not only lofted his pass but struck it very firmly. Shifting his feet backwards very quickly, Melker Ellborg, the Sunderland goalkeeper, had the presence of mind to remember not to handle the backpass and then to divert his back-header over his own crossbar. It was surely one of the best saves of the round, and without hands.

This led to the first of two Vale corners from which they ended up scoring. From the second, receiving it short, Ethon Archer crossed it long. When the ball came back towards the near post, Dajaune Brown appeared to mis-hit his shot. Fortuitously, it went sideways, along the six-yard line, to where Waine was able to arc his neck muscles and head the ball over Ellborg.

The Sunderland fans behind that goal were, briefly, stunned into disbelief. The rest of Vale Park were on their collective feet. Not for 30 years had they been this close to such dizzy heights in this competition.

Joe Gauci, the Vale goalkeeper, had been relieved early in the game when his punch back across the face of his own goal had not been turned over the line. Instead Eliezer Mayenda headed against the post, the ball rebounding back to be cleared behind by Kyle John.

Sunderland, having made only two changes to the team that beat Leeds on Tuesday, and those enforced by suspensions, had plenty of other close shaves. Habib Diarra, the matchwinner at Elland Road, accelerated away down the inside-right channel just before half-time, and shot across the face of goal. Three minutes after the interval, he came even closer, when his lofted shot had to be headed off the line by Jordan Gabriel; Chemsdine Talbi’s follow-up was saved right on the line by Gauci.

Port Vale, 11 points adrift of the safety line in League One, may have ridden their luck at this stage. But then, on the hour, they were so unfortunate not to go a further goal ahead, or at least a man up. It could have been a game-defining call, on the day VAR returned to Vale’s lexicon. Andre Gray, an FA Cup finalist with Watford in 2019, blasted a pass for George Hall to race clear of his defender, and the substitute nicked the ball past Ellborg who very clearly scythed him down, just outside the penalty area.

Anthony Taylor immediately gestured that Hall had been running away from goal, and promptly showed a yellow card to the Sunderland goalkeeper. The referee was not invited to come to the TV monitor to check a replay, and despite calls of “VAR” from the home crowd, he only ventured to the touchline to brandish a card in the direction of manager Jon Brady. Gauci produced two great tip-overs from Nilson Angulo and Dan Ballard but, even when Sunderland brought Granit Xhaka on, after their regular captain’s injury, Vale could claim to have deserved their most memorable cup win in 30 years.