Bottom of the table and 11 points adrift of safety, it has been a truly forgettable League One campaign so far for Port Vale.

In the cups, however, it has been a remarkably different story.

Sunday's shock 1-0 win over Premier League side Sunderland sent Vale into the FA Cup quarter-finals for only the second time in their history.

And the contrast between their results in league and cup matches is stark.

Their victory over the Black Cats was their seventh in the two major cup competitions, the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. They have only won six of their 32 league games.

They have now scored as many times in cups as they have in the league this term, too.

Port Vale manager Jon Brady, who was "still in shock" when interviewed after the match, said the players are "proving themselves" and "hopefully" they can turn their league form around.

Five of their six league wins have been in 2026, four of them since Brady took charge in January.

Not only was beating Sunderland impressive, but so too was the fact it came so soon after Tuesday's win against Bristol City in the fourth round, a re-arranged game after the original tie in mid-February was postponed.

"It's been a terrific week for Port Vale - beating Championship Bristol City on Tuesday then a Premier League scalp today," said former Brighton striker Glenn Murray, who is a pundit on Sunday's Match of the Day.

"While their league form hasn't been great, they were brilliant today and it's another memorable upset in this season's FA Cup."

'I didn't even clock it was the quarters'

Victory was made even sweeter for scorer Ben Waine by the fact that he is a boyhood fan of Sunderland's big rivals Newcastle.

The New Zealand striker's goal put Port Vale in the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954, although Waine said he did not realise they had made the last eight.

"I didn't even clock it was the quarters we got into to be honest! I just heard that. It's amazing," he told BBC Sport after the match, having also netted the winner against Bristol City.

Manager Brady thought the same, saying: "I haven't even looked who is in it. I couldn't believe we were in the last 16 - I told my kids we were in the last 32!"

"It's nice to create history, isn't it?"

On knocking Sunderland out of the competition, 24-year-old Waine added: "It doesn't get better than that. That was something I've never even dreamt of, for it to go that way I think my family will be happy!"

Their victory means Port Vale will be the lowest-ranked side in the last eight, with fellow League One club Mansfield Town having been knocked out by Arsenal on Saturday.

While this season has left much to be desired in the league, Waine says that, after a "tough old season", their recent improvements give them belief that they could defeat the odds.

He added: "Over the last couple of weeks we have come together as a team and found something to drive us forward. We're sticking together."

'Wasteful' Sunderland 'never got into the flow'

Sunderland put out a strong team against Port Vale, making just two changes from the side that beat Leeds in the Premier League in midweek.

However, they "never really got going" against their League One opponents, according to ex-Black Cats midfielder Andy Reid, struggling to make the most of their chances after they eventually began to create more in the second half.

"We know Sunderland are going to be in the Premier League next year so this is in a lot of ways a free hit where they could go and really concentrate on it [the FA Cup]," Reid said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"They put out as strong a team as possible and they just never really got going today in terms of any quality."

Murray added that Sunderland were "wasteful" and "could never get into that flow" that they display in the Premier League.

"Although they picked a strong side, they missed not having Granit Xhaka in the middle to control the tempo of play from the start," Murray said.

"This season Sunderland are used to teams coming at them and leaving space in behind, meaning they can play on the counter. But you can't sit back away to a League One side as a Premier League club - the onus is on you to create."

Vale, meanwhile, where the opposite. They defended valiantly throughout the game and adapted to both create opportunities and prevent Sunderland being able to break them down.

"Looking down at those Port Vale players, every single one of them, the ones who started and the ones who came on, have been absolutely incredible," Reid said after the game.

"They've won every second ball, every header, they've given everything they've got and when the time came to have that little bit of quality, with that lovely little header from Waine they came up with that at the right time." (BBC)

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