Magic of the FA Cup as minnows march on

– Non-league Lincoln City and third-tier Millwall struck late winners as Burnley and Premier League champions Leicester City were humbled on an historic day in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Sean Raggett (right) headed home in the 89th minute as Lincoln, from the fifth-tier National League, stunned Burnley 1-0 in the fifth round in one of the competition’s biggest upsets.

Ten-man Millwall, seventh in League One, claimed a third topflight scalp this season by sinking ailing Leicester 1-0 via a 90th-minute goal by Shaun Cummings.

“I’m lost for words. It’s mad. I can’t believe it!” Lincoln’s match-winner Raggett, 23, told BT Sport. “Crazy. A non-league side in the quarterfinals, in modern football. It’s unheard of.”

Second-half goals by Pedro and Diego Costa earned Premier League leaders Chelsea a 2-0 win at second-tier Wolverhampton Wanderers.

But Manchester City face an unwanted replay after drawing 0-0 at Championship high-fliers Huddersfield Town, three days out from their Champions League last-16 showdown with Monaco.

Eighty-one places below Burnley in the English football pyramid, Lincoln prevailed at Turf Moor when centreback Raggett squeezed a header over the line following a late corner.

East Midlands club Lincoln become the first non-league team to reach the FA Cup’s last eight since Queens Park Rangers in 1914 – ironically the only year Burnley have won the FA Cup.

They are the eighth non-league side to have beaten top-flight opposition since World War II and only the second to have done so since 1989.

Burnley drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea last weekend and have beaten Liverpool and Leicester on home turf this season.

Lincoln join Hereford United, who toppled Newcastle United in 1972, and Sutton United, conquerors of Coventry City in 1989, among the ranks of the FA Cup’s non-league giant-killers.

Millwall followed Lincoln’s lead by overcoming the 52nd-minute dismissal of Jake Cooper to beat a much-changed Leicester side.

Middlesbrough needed an 86th-minute Christian Stuani goal to secure a 3-2 win over third-tier Oxford United, who had hit back from 2-0 down to level through Chris Maguire and Antonio Martinez. – AFP