On This Day – 20th February
Non-league Sutton United hosted Premier League Arsenal in the FA Cup Fifth Round on this day back in 2017.
Sutton had already made a giantkilling in the previous round, beating Leeds United of the Championship 1-0 at home. They had an artificial pitch at Gander Green Lane, something that was considered an advantage for them as they weren’t allowed by both the Premier League and Football League.
The artificial surface didn’t put the Arsenal players off and they won the match 2-0. Lucas Perez scored the first goal after 26 minutes and Theo Walcott netted the second ten minutes into the second half. The main talking point of the tie was actually something that happened off the pitch.
Sutton’s substitute goalkeeper Wayne Shaw was filmed by the Match of the Day cameras eating a pie whilst watching on from the touchline. What first seemed to be an innocent moment later transpired to be a publicity stunt and the goalkeeper landed himself in hot water.
A bookmaker tweeted odds of 8/1 for Shaw to be filmed eating a pie at some point during the night. The 23-stone goalkeeper knew of the bet and in the day after he was fined £375 and banned from playing football for two months. He lost his job at Sutton United.
Lincoln City lay in wait for Arsenal in the Quarter Final. They, like Sutton, were from the National League. Arsenal comfortably beat them 5-0 and went on to lift the trophy, beating Chelsea 2-1 in the Final.
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