BURSLEM, England, March 8 (Reuters) - Third-tier strugglers Port Vale pulled off the shock of the FA Cup fifth round to beat Premier League Sunderland 1-0 and reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954 on Sunday.
Ben Waine's 28th-minute goal proved enough to clinch a famous victory for the Vale Park club who are in danger of being relegated from League One this season.
There was another surprise, albeit a milder one, earlier on Sunday as Premier League Fulham were beaten 1-0 at home by second-tier Southampton.
Leeds United avoided a Sunday wipe-out for Premier League clubs, though, as they dispatched Championship side Norwich City 3-0 with goals by Sean Longstaff, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Joel Piroe at Elland Road.
Southampton became the first non-Premier League club to reach the quarter-finals of this season's competition thanks to a late penalty by substitute Ross Stewart after Finn Azaz was brought down in the area by Joachim Andersen.
They were later joined by Port Vale who stunned Sunderland with a gritty display on a threadbare pitch.
Sunderland, mid-table in the Premier League and 57 places higher than League One bottom club Port Vale, were pedestrian against their fired-up hosts and paid the penalty.
Waine headed in after Sunderland failed to clear a corner and the hosts deservedly held on despite some late pressure.
WAINE PERFORMS SHEARER CELEBRATION
The 24-year-old New Zealand international, who also scored the winner against second-tier Bristol City in midweek in a delayed fourth-round tie, celebrated in the fashion of former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer, one arm aloft.
"We are on a bit of a roll at the moment," Waine said. "I know it wasn't pretty to watch but we dug in so hard and I think we deserved it."
Vale manager Jon Brady, while proud of his team, said the result was a "pain in the bum" as it will add to the club's fixture congestion in their fight to avoid the fourth tier.
"I'm in a bit of shock really," Brady, who took charge in January, said. "Things went our way today."
Sunderland reached the 40-point mark in their return season in the Premier League this week and are almost certainly safe, but Sunday's result put a dampener on their campaign.
"The Premier League is our first objective, 100%. We tried to go strong with the players we had. We trained properly before. If you don't show enough you get punished and that's what happened today," manager Regis Le Bris, said.
Former winners Southampton are back in the quarter-finals having reached that stage in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and they thoroughly deserved to see off a lacklustre Fulham.
Even before Stewart's stoppage-time penalty, Fulham keeper Benjamin Lecomte had been forced into saves from Azaz and Tom Fellows as the visitors played the better football.
Southampton and Port Vale join a powerful-looking quartet already through to the last eight with Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in the hat for the quarter-finals.
West Ham United play Brentford on Monday.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Toby Davis)
