FA Cup third round shocks

The third round draw for the FA Cup is an exciting time for fans, with each set of supporters looking forward to seeing who they will be facing. We love the FA Cup and the recent draw got us excited for another campaign of shock results and giant killings, and this got us in the mood to look at some of the most shocking results to occur in the third round of the competition.

Starting off, we’ve got Hereford’s historic 2-1 victory over Newcastle back in 1972. After holding Newcastle to a shock 2-2 draw at St James’ Park, Hereford earned themselves a replay and went one better as the non-league side beat the first division side to earn a spot in round 4 of the FA Cup. The win was only the second time that a non-league side was victorious over a first division opponent.

Next up we’ve got another non-league victory with Woking’s shock victory over West Brom back during the 90/91 season. Despite going 1-0 up, West Brom suffered an embarrassing defeat as an 11 minute Tim Buzaglo hat-trick and a goal from Terry Worsfold gave Woking a 4-1 lead over the Baggies before Darren Bradly reduced Woking’s lead. The victory was the second time that a non-league side was victorious away to a second division side for 13 years.

A Bournemouth victory over Manchester United doesn’t seem too shocking in the present moment, but that wasn’t the case back in 1984 when Harry Redknapp’s Bournemouth knocked Manchester United out of the Fa Cup with a 2-0 victory in round 3, with Redknapp saying, “ It’s got to be the greatest day of my life”. At the time, Bournemouth were playing their football in the third division and United were the holders of the trophy, to put that into perspective, the result is the equivalent of Manchester City being knocked out of the FA Cup by a League One team.

We’re sticking with Manchester United as they were involved in a more recent upset when they were knocked out of the FA Cup after losing 1-0 to rivals Leeds at Old Trafford back in 2010. A first half goal from Jermaine Beckford gave the League One side a famous victory over their rivals who were the Premier League holders at the time, and considering that Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov both started for United, it’s shocking that United didn’t even score in the game.

One of the most famous FA Cup upsets of all time features Arsenal, thanks to their 2-1 defeat to Wrexham during the 91/92 season. Arsenal went into the game as first division Champions, and it looked like a trip to face fourth division side Wrexham would be straightforward for the Gunners, and despite taking the lead through Alan Smith, it would be anything but straightforward. Mickey Thomas who played against Arsenal for Manchester United during the 1979 FA Cup final converted a free-kick to equalise for Wrexham in the 82nd minute, before Steve Watkins took advantage of a Tony Adams error to score Wrexham’s second 2 minutes later.