As football fans look forward to another set of FA Cup fixtures this weekend, SportsLens look back over some of the biggest upsets and FA Cup Fourth Round shocks – including when Bradford beat Chelsea at this stage of the competition back in 2015, plus the newest entry – Maidstone beating Ipswich in 2024.
FA Cup Fourth Round 2024
We’ve 16 FA Cup fixtures to enjoy this weekend with the 32 teams in action playing their games from Thursday 25th to Monday 29th January 2024.
There are 14 Premier League teams left and of that bunch the FA Cup 4th Round draw has thrown up several all-top flight clashes – Chelsea vs Villa, Spurs vs Man City, Fulham vs Newcastle, Everton vs Luton and Sheff Utd vs Brighton.
However, there are also many potential ‘banana skin’ FA Cup fixtures where sides from the higher end of the football league will be hoping to avoid having egg on their face.
A few of these potential ‘upset matches’, ahead of the 2024 FA Cup 4th Round, are Newport County hosting the 12-time winners Manchester United, Liverpool at home to Championship side Norwich, while Ipswich entertain National League South cup upsetters Maidstone
You can see the full 2024 FA Cup Fourth Round fixtures below (ties to be played between Thursday 25th and Monday 29th January 2024)
FA Cup Fourth Round Shocks: The Biggest FA Cup 4th Round Upsets
1. IPSWICH TOWN 1-2 MAIDSTONE UNITED (2024)
Winless in three, George Elokobi and his Maidstone United side of the National League South headed to Portman Road to take on high-flying Championship outfit Ipswich Town in their fourth round fixture in the 2023/24 edition of the competition.
The hosts dominated large parts of the first period, but it was the underdogs who took the lead on the stroke of half time, as Lamar Reynolds turned home the opener in what was the Stones’ first effort of the match.
Brighton loanee Jeremy Sarmiento drew Ipswich level, but Sam Corne was on hand to restore the sixth tier side’s lead in Suffolk 10 minutes later but there was still plenty of work to do.
Brazilian goalkeeper Lucas Covolan stood strong and made an incredible 12 saves to deny the Tractor Boys another equaliser, seeing Maidstone overcome all the odds and advance to the fifth round of the competition – the first side from the sixth tier or lower to achieve such feat since Blyth Spartans in 1977/78!
2. MANCHESTER UNITED 1-1 MIDDLESBROUGH (2022)
(Boro won 8-7 on penalties)
Jadon Sancho got Manchester United off to the perfect start in this FA Cup 4th Round clash against Boro, but a second half strike from Matt Crooks levelled things up and that was enough to take the game to extra-time and penalties, which Boro went on to win 8-7 in sudden death – Anthony Elanga missed the decisive penalty for the Red Devils.
Middlesbrough went onto beat another Premier League scalp in the 5th Round, when they saw off Tottenham 1-0 at home – but were eventually knocked out in the 2022 FA Cup Quarter-finals by Chelsea (2-0).
3. AFC WIMBLEDON 4-2 WEST HAM (2019)
AFC Wimbledon, who were bottom of League One at the time, recorded their biggest ever triumph in 2019 when knocking out Premier League side West Ham out of the FA Cup in the Fourth Round.
In a game full of goals and billed as ‘One of the Greatest FA Cup Games’, Wimbledon stunned the top-flight team with three goals between the 34th and 46th minutes to find themselves 3-0 up with still 44 minutes to play.
The Hammers got two goals back in the second half and many felt the writing was on the wall for AFC, but a fourth by Toby Sibbick in the 88th sent Wimbledon into dreamland to record a 4-2 win.
They were, however, dumped out of the 5th Round 1-0 by Millwall.
4. NEWPORT COUNTY 2-0 MIDDLESBROUGH (2019)
Middlesbrough are featured again, but for the wrong reasons this time after getting booted out the FA Cup in the 4th Round in 2019 by League Two side Newport County.
The win was in fact a replay after the sides drew 1-1 at the Riverside Stadium, but with home advantage on a cold Tuesday night, Newport saw off the Championship side 2-0 with goals from Robbie Willmott and Padraig Amond.
Newport lost 4-1 to Manchester City in the next round.
5. SUTTON 1-0 LEEDS UNITED (2017)
Leeds thumped Sutton 6-0 back in 1970 in the FA Cup, but 47 years later the non-League (at the time) side got their revenge by causing one of biggest FA Cup shocks of all time.
A penalty in the 53rd minute, that was scored by Jamie Collins, was good enough to record the big 2017 FA Cup upset, which was made a tad easier by Leeds player Liam Cooper seeing red in the 82nd minute. It was Sutton’s 6th FA Cup match that season, having won through a stack of qualifying games to get that far.
Another big payday awaited in the 5th Round against Arsenal, but, unlike Leeds, the Gunners made no mistakes here and ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.
6. CHELSEA 2-4 BRADFORD (2015)
Another of the biggest FA Cup shocks of all-time and despite the obvious Premier League vs League One reason, this upset was even worse as not only were Chelsea at home, but the Blues also took a 2-0 lead!
Gary Cahill and Ramires gave Chelsea a quick lead in the first half and as a result would have traded at very short odds to win the match.
However, Bradford managed to defy the odds by scoring the next four goals in the match, with striker Jon Stead starting the ball rolling in the 41st minute.
With the game poised at 2-1 so much of the second half, it was Bradford that pulled level with a Morais goal, and the nerves showed through the Chelsea players at the prospect of being on the receiving end of a huge FA Cup shock.
The comeback was completed in the 82nd and 90th minutes with Andrew Halliday and Mark Yeates goals for Bradford to record the famous win.
Bradford went on to see off Sunderland in the next round but lost over two games to Reading in the 2015 FA Cup Quarter-finals.
7. MANCHESTER CITY 0-2 MIDDLESBROUGH (2015)
Boro are back again, but for better reasons again to go into the FA Cup 4th round shocks hall-of-fame for a second time.
An away trip to Manchester City looked a daunting prospect on paper, but with City being knocked out the season before by a Championship side (Wigan), then Boro would have gained some hope from that.
It was Boro’s Patrick Bamford, who is now at Leeds and at the time was on loan from Chelsea, that scored the first goal (53rd) to get the FA Cup upset rolling. After hanging on for much of the game after that strike, Boro’s Kike managed to take advantage of some poor defending to seal the tie and give Boro a famous 2-0 win.
However, another Premier League upset in the next round wasn’t to be as Boro went out to the eventual 2015 FA Cup winners Arsenal 2-0.
8. OLDHAM 3-2 LIVERPOOL (2013)
Oldham were in League One at the time of their FA Cup Fourth Round clash with Liverpool – a game that the Reds were, of course, fully expected to win.
The Latics took a chance with 6f 6in striker Matt Smith in the hope that he’d cause the Liverpool defenders some grief. This tactic paid off for Paul Dickov’s side as Smith was a handful in the game and bagged two goals too (3rd and 45th).
Luis Suarez managed to get Liverpool back into the game on the 17th minute, but Oldham got back in front with another Smith goal and Reece Wabara adding a third. A late Joe Allen strike made it 3-2 in the 80th minute to set-up a nervy final 10 minutes, but Oldham held on for the famous upset.
But the in the next round it was the other side of Merseyside (Everton) that dumped Oldham out of the cup – but they did need a replay.
9. NORWICH 0-1 LUTON TOWN (2013)
After a run of financial issues Luton had found themselves in the Conference back in 2013, so with Norwich in the Premier League, then surely there was only going to be one winner here – especially as a certain Harry Kane was playing for the Canaries at the time.
Kane, who is now at Tottenham, had chances for Norwich in the game, but it was 0-0 at the break and as the top-flight side went for the win this opened the game up and this proved decisive for Luton as they managed to get a rare goal with Scott Rendell doing the business in the 80th minute.
But it was another former club of Harry Kane – Millwall – that beat Luton in the Fifth Round.
2024 FA Cup 4th Round Fixtures
Thursday 25th January 2024
- Bournemouth v Swansea City 19:45
Friday 26th January 2024
- Bristol City v Nottingham Forest 19:45
- Chelsea v Aston Villa 19:45
- Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City 19:45
- Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City 20:00
Saturday 27th January 2024
- Ipswich Town v Maidstone United 12:30
- Everton v Luton Town 15:00
- Leeds United v Plymouth Argyle 15:00
- Leicester City v Birmingham City 15:00
- Sheffield United v Brighton & Hove Albion 15:00
- Fulham v Newcastle United 19:00
Sunday 28th January 2024
- West Bromwich Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers 11:45
- Watford v Southampton 14:00
- Liverpool v Norwich City 14:30
- Newport County v Manchester United 16:30
Monday 29th January 2024
- Blackburn Rovers v Wrexham 19:30
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