FA Cup 'Magic' returns with weekend of upsets

Luton Town celebrate after shocking Premiership Norwich City

By Peter Wells (@boxingpeter): 'Nothing is as good as in the old days'. This phrase is used for almost every sport known to man. Maybe no more so than football. Sometimes its the players, other times the rules, but each year we here "The FA Cup is nothing like the old days". Year after year the fans of the underdogs and neutrals sit and hope to witness the upsets that we here about so often "in the old days". Yet this weekend there was no mention of the "old days", as the magic of the FA Cup returned to the 21st century.

MK Dons, Luton, Leeds, Oldham all added themselves into the history books of FA Cup upsets. Brentford were so nearly added to that list, but will have to complete their mission at Stamford Bridge. And who, except Chelsea fans, won't be rooting for the League One side to cause maybe the upset of the round.

Blue Square Bet Premier side Luton Town are the new Cinderella story of the FA Cup after becoming the first ever non-league side to knock a top-flight team out of the FA Cup since Sutton Utd defeated Coventry City in 1989. The hero of the day was Scott Rendell, who came off the bench to poke home fellow substitute O'Donnell's delicious cross on the 80th minute. Norwich City didn't have enough time to find an equaliser and where the unfortunate victims of one of the greatest FA Cup upsets of all time.



MK Dons celebrate their 4th goal in a 4-2 victory against QPR

Norwich aren't Luton's only high flying victims this FA Cup though, as Wolverhampton Wanderers were also felled by one-goal-to-nil in the 3rd round. Next up is Championship side Millwall, and Luton have no desire to stop the upsetting just yet.

Luton were not the only team on Saturday upsetting Premier League sides on their own turf, as MK Dons demolished QPR in quite remarkable fashion. Traore flicked past his own keeper after just 4 minutes before Ryan Lowe, Ryan Harley and Darren Potter put the visiting League One side 4-0 up. Jay Bothroyd and Fabio's late consolation goals were not enough to spare QPR the embarrassment of the humiliating defeat.

Luton and MK Dons were then joined on Sunday by Leeds Utd and Oldham. Leeds, cheered on by a boisterous crowd took the lead at home to Tottenham Hotspur after 15 minutes when Luke Varney found the back of the net after some poor Spurs defending. AVB found his side 2-0 down when Ross McCormack scored a screamer on 50 minutes. Clint Dempsey soon halved the deficit on 58 minutes but the Leeds defence held strong to knock out the Champions League chasing team.

Oldham players and fans celebrate a quite incredible evening

To conclude the amazing weekend, League One strugglers Oldham Athletic gave their fans a memorable night in what has thus far been a pretty forgettable season. Liverpool's poor defence couldn't stop Matt Smith from powering home twice in the first half. Luis Suarez scored a magnificent individual goal in between Smith's heroics. Early in the 2nd half, loanee Reece Wabara powered a quite brilliant header past Brad Jones, who had a bad game to say the least. Oldham amazingly had chances to make it 4-1 as Coates and Skrtel struggled to cope with Oldham's offence. Joe Allen's deflected shot gave Liverpool hope, but only Steven Gerrard came close to saving Liverpool.

Brentford will have one more shot at adding their name to the list of underdog victors, when they travel to Stamford Bridge after coming so close to beating Chelsea after leading twice. Fernando Toress of all people got the decisive equaliser with 7 minutes to go.

In other results in this years FA Cup 4th round, Millwall caused a mild upset against struggling Aston Villa 2-1. Brighton were resilient in a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal, while League Two Aldershot were seconds away from earning a home replay against Middlesbrough, when the Championship side snatched a heartbreaking goal to win 2-1. Manchester City repeated their 2011 FA Cup final victory over Stoke, winning 1-0, while the red side of Manchester dominated Fulham 4-1. Reading proved too much for Sheffield United winning 4-0, and Blackburn were also too hot for Derby to handle, winning 3-0. Macclessfield succumbed to an early Wigan penalty 1-0, while Hull were shocked by struggling Barnsley at home 1-0. Everton were pushed hard by Bolton, but forced out a 2-1 victory and finally Leicester and Huddersfield will meet again after a 1-1 draw.

So, you could call it a good old fashioned FA Cup weekend. Or you could just face the fact that the FA Cup still has its magic, and fairy tales are still being written in the modern game.

FA Cup 5th round draw: Arsenal v Blackburn; Huddersfield/Leicester v Wigan; Luton v Millwall; Man City v Leeds Utd; Man Utd v Reading; MK Dons v Barnsley; Middlesbrough v Chelsea/Brentford; Oldham v Everton