𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Port Vale reached the FA Cup quarter-finals for just the second time in the club’s history with a 1-0 win over Premier League Sunderland on Sunday.

Ben Waine’s first-half goal was the difference between the two sides as the League One club reached the last eight of the competition for the first time since 1954.

Fifty-seven places separated the two teams in the football pyramid before kick off at Vale Park, with Port Vale rooted to the bottom of League One, 11 points from safety and having won just six league games all season.

But it was the third tier side who took the lead on 28 minutes as Sunderland failed to clear a short corner and Waine’s header looped over goalkeeper Melker Ellborg.

Waine had scored the only goal in his side’s fourth-round victory over Bristol City on Tuesday and again provided the decisive moment as Port Vale recorded their first FA Cup victory over a Premier League side since they beat Everton in the fourth round back in 1996.

Sunderland threw players forward as they searched for an equaliser in the latter stages, but Port Vale saw out the six minutes of additional time, and after defending a long throw at the death, the final whistle was blown to mark a historic win for the League One club.

“I’m trying to let it sink in at the moment,” Port Vale manager Jon Brady told BBC Sport at full time. “It was tremendous from the boys. We had to suffer at times but when they pushed toward the end we broke with real pace.

“It really hasn’t sunk in.”

Sunderland are 11th in the Premier League after winning promotion to the top flight last season. They reached 40 points — the total considered enough to secure Premier League safety — with victory over Leeds United in midweek. Head coach Regis Le Bris made just two changes to the side that had won at Elland Road for Sunday’s fixture, but conceded his side were not good enough.

“Credit to our opponent,” Le Bris told TNT Sports. “They played with hunger, patience, intensity. We were not at the level. It was more a second ball game, we didn’t show enough to impose our strength today.”

Port Vale are the lowest ranked team remaining in the competition and will discover their quarter-final opponent during Monday’s draw.