After an exciting third round of FA Cup football came to an end on Monday night, plenty of clubs writing their own history, teams will return to league football until the fourth round in two weeks.
League Two’s Crawley Town recorded a historic 3-0 victory against Premier League side Leeds United, in what is quickly being regarded as one of the club’s greatest ever days.
A fantastic solo goal from Nick Tsaroulla – his first senior goal ever – was followed by strikes from Ashley Nadesan and Jordan Tunnicliffe.
To rub salt in the wounds, reality TV star Mark Wright was brought on in one of the highest profile debuts for a 33-year-old in recent memory.
National League North side Chorley also caused an upset, beating Championship club Derby 2-0, albeit facing off against their youth players.
Connor Hall and Mike Calveley netted for the home team as they took advantage of a depleted Derby squad.
The FA Cup magic ran out for AFC Marine when they welcomed a near full strength Spurs team, losing 5-0 to Jose Mourinho and co.
Carlos Vinicius scored a hat-trick, Lucas Moura netted a free kick, and 16-year-old Alfie Devine added a fifth to become Spurs’ youngest ever goal scorer.
Stockport also had their journey come to an end, losing 1-0 to West Ham.
The National League club almost took the Hammers all the way before conceding in the 83rd minute to a Craig Dawson header.
Blackpool shocked many when they beat West Brom on penalties, with Jerry Yates and Gary Madine cancelling out goals from Semi Ajayi and Matheus Pereira as the match initially ended 2-2.
Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell saved three spot kicks as the League One club won 3-2 on penalties.
There was also goalkeeping heroics from Jason Steele who saved four penalties to send Brighton through after their shootout against Newport County following their 1-1 draw.
He had initially made the mistake which took the game to extra time, missing a simple cross which then deflected in off of Adam Webster for an own goal to cancel out Solly March’s opener.
Despite giving it their all, Aston Villa’s youngsters were eventually defeated 4-1 by Liverpool.
Former Barcelona academy player Louie Barry scored his first goal for Villa, equalising after Sadio Mane had opened the scoring with his first ever FA Cup goal.
They were then outclassed in the second half, with Liverpool comfortably advancing thanks to strikes from Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah and again from Mane.
Chelsea also advanced, beating Morecombe 4-0 in dominant fashion.
Mason Mount, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz all scored as the Blues progressed to the next round.
Likewise, Manchester City also made it to the next round in style as they thrashed Birmingham City 3-0, thanks to a brace from Bernardo Silva and a fine strike by Phil Foden.
Their rivals Manchester United also advanced, winning 1-0 against Watford following an early goal by Scott McTominay.
Similarly, Leicester joined the rest of their title challengers in the next round after demolishing Stoke 4-0.
James Justin scored a sublime goal, which was added to Marc Albrighton, Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes as the Foxes made the fourth round.
Arsenal kept up their recent good form, beating Newcastle 2-0 despite needing extra time.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emile Smith Rowe both struck the late stages of extra time, as the Gunners won yet again.
Burnley required a penalty shootout to overcome League One club MK Dons, initially drawing 1-1 in normal time after goals Cameron Jerome and Matej Vydra.
Elsewhere, Adama Traore scored his first goal since February and the only goal of the game to send Wolves through against Crystal Palace.
Everton needed extra time to beat Rotherham 2-1, with Cenk Tosun and Abdoulaye Doucoure both netting in the Toffees win, despite Matthew Olosunde’s initial equaliser.
Fulham also beat Championship opposition, with Bobby Cordova-Reid and Neeskens Kebano both scoring in extra time as they won 2-0 against QPR.
The final Premier League club in action were Sheffield United, who secured their first win of the season by defeating Bristol Rovers 3-2.
A Joe Day own goal was added to by Oliver Burke and Jaydon Bogle as Chris Wilder achieved with 100th win as Blades manager.
Outside of the topflight, League One’s Plymouth overcame Huddersfield to advance to the next round after a 3-2 win.
Doncaster achieved a similar feat, beating Blackburn Rovers 1-0 away from home, as Taylor Richards scored the only goal of the match.
National League club Boreham Wood lost out to Millwall, as Kenneth Zohore and Shaun Hutchinson bagged in a 2-0 triumph.
The only other side below to Championship to advance was Cheltenham who edged out Mansfield 2-1.
A whole host of second tier clubs advanced to the next round too, including Norwich, Luton, Nottingham Forest, Wycombe, Sheffield Wednesday, Bournemouth, Swansea, Brentford, Barnsley and Bristol City.
Southampton and Shrewsbury had their match postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the Shrewsbury squad.
The fourth round will be played in two weeks’ time, on the weekend beginning the January 23.
By Ali Pollock
