Sheffield United pulled off the first major shock of the FA Cup third-round weekend when the third-tier English side triumphed 3-0 at Premier League outfit Queens Park Rangers in early action on Sunday.
Rangers, struggling near the foot of the Premier League table, had more misery heaped on them at their Loftus Road home, with a second-half double from winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce sealing the emphatic victory for League One’s sixth-placed team.
Yet on the weekend when the minnows of England’s lower leagues traditionally go hunting for the Premier League Goliaths, Crystal Palace, under new manager Alan Pardew, comfortably sidestepped any possible embarrassment with a 4-0 stroll at little Conference side Dover Athletic.
We ticked all the attitude boxes you want to tick. We needed to show a bit of exuberance and a bit of class and the players used that instruction really well. We never looked in trouble
Another Premier League team, Sunderland, also prevailed 1-0 against the Championship’s Leeds United, a goal from Patrick van Aanholt ensuring the result mirrored that of the teams’ famous 1973 Cup final.
QPR entered the match with some trepidation, having won only two FA Cup games in a decade and lost their previous Cup encounter with a League One side when beaten by MK Dons.
So this match against confident visitors who had already despatched Premier League teams Southampton and West Ham en route to the League Cup semi-finals again had an ominous look for them once Marc McNulty, United’s top scorer, struck after 36 minutes.
Campbell-Ryce cashed in four minutes after half-time when the Rangers’ defence failed to deal with a straightforward corner and he bundled the ball home from a yard out.
Then he sealed the handsome win, making a nonsense of the 34-place gap between the two sides as he rounded the keeper to roll in the third in the game’s dying moments.