Non-league Tamworth produced a major FA Cup shock on Friday night by knocking out Huddersfield Town courtesy of a bizarre own goal.
Tamworth's players are part-time and the Staffordshire club is 57 places below Huddersfield in the English football pyramid.
But the League One promotion hopefuls - who were in the Premier League as recently as 2019 - suffered a humbling 1-0 defeat in front of a fired-up crowd of 3,533.
The only goal of the game arrived just before half-time when Huddersfield keeper Chris Maxwell accidentally slapped the ball into his net from ultra-close range.
Maxwell's mishap came as he was attempting to clear the ball following a remarkable 35-yard long throw from Tom Tonks.
Under the laws of the game, a player is not allowed to score directly from a throw-in.
Friday's game was shown live on BBC Two and multiple viewers were quick to point out that if Maxwell had simply let the ball fly passed him, rather than attempting to intervene, then the goal would have been disallowed.
Reacting on X (formerly Twitter) one fan wrote: 'Terrible goalkeeping should have just let it go in without touching it.'
Another asked: 'Why didn't the keeper just leave it????????'
In Maxwell's defense, his six-yard box was very congested. Therefore, it would have been difficult for him to be certain that the ball would have gone directly in before being touched by another player.
Regardless of the bizarre nature of his side's winning goal, Tamworth manager Andy Peaks was thrilled with the result and his side's performance.
"It's like a torpedo! The long throw has worked!"
Speaking on TV after the game, Peaks said: 'We managed the game well. Brilliant. We felt that when we got the ball we had to keep it and not give it back straight away because they are good on the ball.
'It was more important to keep a good shape and be difficult to break down.
'We knew we would be a threat on set-pieces and we were. The key was having a good shape and not rushing things. We didn't have to win it in the first 20 minutes and we didn't want to be out of it in the first 20 minutes.
'Most games are decided in the penalty box and we try to be good in those areas with the first and second balls - and we were.
'We mixed it up well. We had to be strong down the spine and the spine was strong.
'I just wanted to be competitive and not be embarrassed on national television.
'But I'm so proud of all of them. We have such a strong spine to the team. I never want a team of individuals, I want a team.'
Beaten. They out-scrapped us and the goal came from a threat we knew about.
'I picked a strong team, prepared properly, and warned the players.
'If we had started the first minute as we played from the 80th minute onwards we might have been OK. But we waited too long to have any sort of response and we are deservedly out of the Cup.
'We started the game on the back foot, invited them on, invited the crowd into it, and it's hard to get it back.
Tamworth's players are part-time and the Staffordshire club is 57 places below Huddersfield in the English football pyramid.
But the League One promotion hopefuls - who were in the Premier League as recently as 2019 - suffered a humbling 1-0 defeat in front of a fired-up crowd of 3,533.
The only goal of the game arrived just before half-time when Huddersfield keeper Chris Maxwell accidentally slapped the ball into his net from ultra-close range.
Maxwell's mishap came as he was attempting to clear the ball following a remarkable 35-yard long throw from Tom Tonks.
Under the laws of the game, a player is not allowed to score directly from a throw-in.
Friday's game was shown live on BBC Two and multiple viewers were quick to point out that if Maxwell had simply let the ball fly passed him, rather than attempting to intervene, then the goal would have been disallowed.
Reacting on X (formerly Twitter) one fan wrote: 'Terrible goalkeeping should have just let it go in without touching it.'
Another asked: 'Why didn't the keeper just leave it????????'
In Maxwell's defense, his six-yard box was very congested. Therefore, it would have been difficult for him to be certain that the ball would have gone directly in before being touched by another player.
Regardless of the bizarre nature of his side's winning goal, Tamworth manager Andy Peaks was thrilled with the result and his side's performance.
"It's like a torpedo! The long throw has worked!"
Speaking on TV after the game, Peaks said: 'We managed the game well. Brilliant. We felt that when we got the ball we had to keep it and not give it back straight away because they are good on the ball.
'It was more important to keep a good shape and be difficult to break down.
'We knew we would be a threat on set-pieces and we were. The key was having a good shape and not rushing things. We didn't have to win it in the first 20 minutes and we didn't want to be out of it in the first 20 minutes.
'Most games are decided in the penalty box and we try to be good in those areas with the first and second balls - and we were.
'We mixed it up well. We had to be strong down the spine and the spine was strong.
'I just wanted to be competitive and not be embarrassed on national television.
'But I'm so proud of all of them. We have such a strong spine to the team. I never want a team of individuals, I want a team.'
Beaten. They out-scrapped us and the goal came from a threat we knew about.
'I picked a strong team, prepared properly, and warned the players.
'If we had started the first minute as we played from the 80th minute onwards we might have been OK. But we waited too long to have any sort of response and we are deservedly out of the Cup.
'We started the game on the back foot, invited them on, invited the crowd into it, and it's hard to get it back.
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