Following their surprise 4-2 victory over Premier League leaders Chelsea in the previous round, League Two side Bradford City were fairly bullish about their chances of progressing to the next round, as they hosted Premier League side Sunderland in the last 16 of the competition on Sunday afternoon. The pressure was off, they were at home in-front of 20,000 plus supporters and even though the pitch was admittedly, not the greatest, the players were just grateful to even be playing in the competition.
The hosts got off to the best possible start, with an opening goal within the first three minutes of the referee's whistle. An inswinging free-kick delivery was not dealt with by the Sunderland defenders, and a shot inside the area by Billy Clarke bundled in off former Manchester United centre-back John O'Shea, past Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone into the bottom corner of the net. Sunderland boss Gus Poyet had a face filled with disappointment and sorrow, and who could blame him? His side were behind early on, and it appeared as though they were second best for the majority of the game in truth.
A dangerous cross was whipped into the box, and striker Jon Stead was inches away from heading the ball on-target. Sunderland defensively were being cut open easily, and could not do enough to rectify it quickly enough. The visitors had a chance of their own, with Larsson's deflected shot finding its way through to Scottish striker Steven Fletcher (who, was marginally offside) - shaped to shoot, but was tackled in a last-ditch attempt to deny The Black Cats from equalising. Replays showed, although the referee did not award a penalty-kick, it probably should have been.
After his earlier chance was squandered, Stead eventually got himself on the scoresheet, in the 60th minute. He weaved his way past Wes Brown after Adam Johnson's attempted clearance was headed into his path and his effort went underneath Mannone's dive into the net.
Despite some late Sunderland pressure, the hosts held them off long enough before the referee blew his whistle for full-time, where a collective roar of support from the Bantams was heard around the ground. Poyet was being criticised by the away fans towards the end of the game, for a rather disappointing display from the Premier League club, who will have to now focus on the league and improve on lacklustre displays in recent months.
STAT: Bradford's victory today, ensure they progress into the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 39 years.
The great atmosphere and result culminated in another shock, meaning that Bradford progress to the last eight and prove the "magic of the cup" is still present in modern football.