FA Cup 3rd Round Classic
Stevenage v Newcastle
2011
In the interests of balance we thought it would be right to include a 3rd round classic from our opposition on Saturday so we wind the clock back to 2011 and the toppling of a Premier League club.
In 1998 Stevenage - then a non league club - had famously held Premiership Newcastle to a draw at Broadhall in the 4th Round before narrowly losing out on the replay in 2011. But, having progressed to the 3rd Round as a league club in 2011 they were handed the opportunity to better that result when fate once again played that hand and gave them another home draw against Newcastle.
First Round
The first round saw Stevenage drawn at home to MK Dons which proved an eventful enough tie - eventually being decided at Stadium:MK by a penalty shoot out that saw Stevenage progress to the 2nd round thanks to a 7-6 penalty win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwdjbDvMaFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s6na9HDjZg
Stevenage manager Graham Westley
It's a terrific evening, we've worked very hard for 210 minutes against a very expensively assembled and a very good League side.
It's a massive credit to the boys that they've managed to win through. That's what these lads are all about, they're a resilient and together bunch.
The FA Cup can throw up many strange coincidences so I guess the second round tie against AFC Wimbledon could have been expected given they had dispatched MK Dons and it proved to be a much easier afternoon for Stevenage thanks to goals from Josh Walker and Yemi Odubade with the home team having Ed Harris sent off late in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD-_mjMf9No
Westley said
We started the game very strongly, we knew they were a fast-starting side. After half-time, they were always going to throw everything at us and we had to be careful not leave ourselves open.
We showed real professionalism about the way we played.
And so onto the third round and the visit of Newcastle. Long gone had been the likes of Alan Shearer, Rob Lee and Keith Gillespie for Newcastle but they arrived in Hertfordshire a Premier League club and expecting to progress to Round 4 of a competition that they had reached the final of twice in the not too distant past.
Saturday 08 January 2011
Stevenage 3 Newcastle 1
Match Report: BBC Sport
League Two Stevenage stunned Premier League Newcastle with a fully-deserved victory in the FA Cup third round.
Stacy Long's strike took a wicked deflection off Mike Williamson before Michael Bostwick struck from distance.
Toon substitute Cheik Tiote then saw red for a wild tackle before Joey Barton pulled one back from 30 yards in injury-time to give United hope.
Peter Winn still had time to slot home as Stevenage avenged their feisty fourth round defeat from 1998.
The home side, currently 13th in the League Two table, held their opponents to a 1-1 draw at Broadhall Way 13 years ago before losing the replay, but they were undoubtedly the superior team on Saturday.
Stevenage played with tremendous commitment and desire and undoubtedly created the bulk of the game's clear openings.
The final whistle prompted a pitch invasion - although there appeared to be an unwanted incident when a supporter seemed to punch Stevenage's Scott Laird, who subsequently fell to the ground.
Graham Westley's team can look forward to the fourth-round draw, which takes place on Sunday afternoon.
But it is probably the biggest upset for the away side since Ronnie Radford smashed a famous goal as Hereford defeated Newcastle 2-1 in 1972.
Newcastle had won both their previous fixtures in 2011 but were terribly disappointing at Broadhall Way against opponents 73 places below them in the footballing ladder.
They joined Sunderland and Middlesbrough in crashing out of the competition at the third-round stage this season.
And Alan Pardew's team became only the fourth top-flight team since the formation of the Premier League to lose to fourth-tier opposition after Everton, West Ham and Fulham.
The ball was accidentally kicked in Kevin Nolan's face in the opening seconds of the contest - an incident that set the tone for an extremely uncomfortable encounter for the Premier League side.
Pardew made five changes to the side that thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Wednesday - with players such as James Perch and Alan Smith given the chance to underline their case for a regular starting berth.
And the visiting side appeared to settle quickly as Wayne Routledge, who had a tough tussle with Stevenage left-back Scott Laird, delivered an early cross that Barton drilled goalwards, forcing a decent save from Chris Day.
But it was just about the only save Day had to make in the opening half, as the physically competitive Stevenage grew in confidence and imposed themselves on the contest.
Central defender Mark Roberts should arguably have scored after nine minutes but he made a poor connection with Winn's corner.
Lawrie Wilson caught the eye with a surging run, although his strike was blocked, while Bostwick's powerful low strike drew an excellent save from Krul.
Stevenage's first-half performance forced a change of formation from Newcastle at the break, as they brought on Nile Ranger for Leon Best and switched to a 4-2-3-1 set-up.
The visiting side had hardly had time to adjust to their new shape before Long's strike struck Williamson and deflected into the Toon goal with keeper Krul completely wrong-footed.
Nolan drew a good save from Day with a 20-yard strike but his effort was soon eclipsed by Bostwick's effort, which went in off the post.
The 22-year-old had not scored since late August but defeated Krul with a powerful strike after Long and Chris Beardsley worked the ball into his path.
View attachment Stevenage Newcastle 3.jpg
It was turning into an abysmal afternoon for Newcastle and it deteriorated further when Tiote saw red for his challenge on Jon Ashton.
Ugly scenes followed the challenge and Barton threw the ball against the head of an opposition player.
Barton's goal was arguably the pick of the contest but he did not have the opportunity to celebrate his thunderous strike as the match was already deep into injury-time.
But it was Stevenage who capped off a famous night by scoring next as Winn superbly lifted the ball over the advancing Krul after collecting a pass from John Mousinho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9SqAiRsWog
Graham Westley
You only ever win by being positive, we played to our strengths and their weaknesses.
The top players are not infallible, they all have their weaknesses and winning is about exposing their weaknesses and playing to your strengths and we did that.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew
A few players need to understand what this game is all about
A few young boys got caught out with the passion and the physical side of Stevenage, who I thought bossed patches of the game with their enthusiasm and endeavour. We have got to match that and we did not do that.
Some of the celebrations after the game were soured by a Stevenage fan punching one of their players - Scott Laird - who was felled by the punch in footage captured by the cameras watching the celebrations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opvIogoe25w
BBC Sport
Police are investigating an incident in which a Stevenage player was punched by a fan in the aftermath of the club's shock 3-1 FA Cup win over Newcastle.
Defender Scott Laird was knocked to the ground after the final whistle as the League Two side celebrated their win.
A Hertfordshire Police spokesman said: "It is believed a Stevenage fan assaulted a Stevenage player."
Police have described the fan as a white male wearing a white Diesel top and red and white Stevenage scarf.
The Football Association has also confirmed it will be looking into the matter.
"The FA will be investigating the incident and seeking to establish facts from both clubs and the police," said a spokesman.
Videos of the incident, which was captured by match broadcaster ESPN's cameras, were immediately circulated on the internet.
Stevenage manager Graham Westley was disappointed that the club's most famous victory had ended in such a manner.
"Scott Laird was stood celebrating with the fans and a fan just came over and smashed him from the side," said Westley. "He went to the ground and it is a shame for the afternoon to end in that way.
"He is a bit bewildered. He [the fan] gave him a right-hander, just smashed him across the cheek and knocked him to the ground."
Robert Fltzgerald appeared in court for the punch and pleaded guilty to the assault and was later sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for the attack.
Jennifer Browne, defending, said: "Mr Fitzgerald goes on to the pitch, he congratulates other players. He sees the injured party and he throws a punch. Why? Because the injured party had had a relationship with Mr Fitzgerald's current girlfriend. This was some time ago but my instructions are that the injured party did not treat the current girlfriend, Mr Fitzgerald's girlfriend, correctly. Mr Fitzgerald takes matters into his own hands and it was seizing the opportunity. It wasn't premeditated to go on to the football pitch."
Stevenage's run in the competition ended in the next round when they were beaten by Reading and exited the tournament but they had a further celebration later that season when they were promoted to League One via the play offs. Newcastle went on to finish 12th in the Premier League despite winning just 3 of their 17 league games after the FA Cup shock.
