Premier League Newcastle United fell to a humiliating FA Cup third-round defeat at home to third-tier Cambridge United at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Newcastle — currently second bottom in the English top-flight having won one game all season — were knocked out by a second-half goal from Joe Ironside that earned the League One outfit a classic cup shock.
The Magpies flexed their new financial muscle by signing England full back Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid on Friday and he made his debut. But Cambridge were undaunted as Ironside’s 56th-minute goal and a series of superb saves from goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov sealed a famous victory to send their fans into delirium.
Newcastle, who had seen Fabian Schar and Jacob Murphy strikes correctly ruled out for offside, were unable to muster a goal in front of a bumper crowd of 51,395.
Cambridge manager Mark Bonner said: “We are delighted. There is always a fairy tale and an upset in this competition, we always hoped it would be us. So proud, we rode our luck at times but the goalkeeper was outstanding.”
Burnley — another side languishing at the foot of the Premier League — were beaten 2-1 at home by second-tier Huddersfield Town.
The Clarets — currently third bottom having also won just one game all campaign — were leading through Jay Rodruguez’s first-half strike until late goals from Josh Koroma and Matty Pearson earned the Championship club victory.
Rodriguez is yet to score in 13 league appearances this season but opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Ashley Westwood’s ball from deep missed Chris Wood but Rodriguez was running in behind to head beyond the goalkeeper — his fifth goal in four cup outings this season.
Huddersfield almost equalised in first-half stoppage time when Danel Sinani’s free-kick found Jon Russell, the summer signing making his first start, but his header came back off the post.
The Terriers deserved leveller came in the 74th minute. Matt Lowton was guilty of giving the ball away in midfield and Huddersfield raced away, with Koroma turning in Sorba Thomas’ low cross at the far post.
The winner came with four minutes left when Pearson headed home from a corner but there was also time for James Tarkowski miss a glorious chance to send it to extra time late on but the Clarets defender headed over.
“It’s bitterly disappointing,” said Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan. “ The game is petering out, it’s a sloppy mistake and indicative of the season so far when we get punished and it’s 1-1.
“I think the team we put out was as strong as we could go. We worked hard on set plays this week and knew what they had, but we were down a marker [for the winning goal] and the cross was on the money. It was one we should have dealt with.”
Premier League Crystal Palace avoided a similar upset by coming from a goal down to defeat Championship Millwall. The Lions had knocked out Everton and Leicester in recent years and were eyeing another scalp when Benik Afobe put them ahead early on to further incite a partisan crowd at the Den.
Eagles goalkeeper Jack Butland, deputising for first-choice Vicente Guaita, had time to clear the ball but unwisely attempted to dribble inside his own penalty area and gifted the ball to Millwall and Afobe was on hand to tap into an empty net.
But a brilliant second-half display by Michael Olise turned the game on its head. The 20-year-old equalised a minute into the second half with a superb individual goal when he received a pass from Connor Gallagher on the right, cut inside and curled an effort in off the post.
Olise then turned creator before the hour mark when his cross into the middle was met by Jean-Philippe Mateta, who headed home what proved the winner.
“I was happy with the first half that we played but we didn’t use the ball well enough and in the second half what we wanted to do as a team was to win the game,” said Palace manager Patrick Vieira.
“In the first half it was difficult for Michael [Olise] to find space, we changed the shape a little bit in the second half so he played wider and we created situations where he was one-v-one, he’s capable of coming inside or going outside and the goal he scored showed his quality.”
The first big shock of the round came when fourth-tier Hartlepool defeated Championship side Blackpool 2-1 in the north-east.
Keshi Anderson gave the visitors an early lead only for Hartlepool to level through David Ferguson's deflected effort three minutes after the break.
And 18-year-old Joe Grey stepped off the bench to fire home a 61st-minute winner to complete a dramatic second-half comeback.
Holders Leicester City made an impressive start to their defence of the trophy as they defeated fellow Premier League side Watford 4-1 at the King Power Stadium. Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton fro the Foxes.
Sixth tier Kidderminster Harriers, the lowest-ranked team in the third round, pulled off a shock when they beat Championship side Reading 2-1.
Boreham Wood made sure two minor league sides will be in the fourth round when they beat AFC Wimbledon 2-0.
Premier League Brentford enjoyed a comfortable 4-1 victory away to Port Vale thanks to a Bryan Mbeumo hat-trick.
