Premier League high-flyers Newcastle suffered a shock FA Cup exit against third tier Sheffield Wednesday, while top-flight strugglers Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth were also dumped out by lower-league opposition on Saturday.
Elsewhere on a hectic day of third round action, Harry Kane moved closer to becoming Tottenham’s all-time record goalscorer as he netted in the 1-0 win against Portsmouth.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the Hollywood actors who co-own Wrexham, led the celebrations on social media after their non-league side’s surprise 4-3 victory at second tier Coventry.
But it was Wednesday who stole the show with their impressive 2-1 victory at Hillsborough against a Newcastle team sitting in third place in the Premier League.
Eddie Howe’s side were unbeaten in their previous 15 games in all competitions, but Wednesday, currently second in League One, have now gone undefeated in 10 successive matches after Josh Windass’s double stunned the Magpies.
Wednesday went ahead in the 52nd minute when Windass, who looked in an offside position, diverted Dennis Adeniran’s ball across from close-range.
Windass scored his second 13 minutes later, coolly converting after being put through by Michael Smith.
Newcastle reduced the deficit in the 68th minute when Bruno Guimaraes poked home from close-range, but Chris Wood squandered a golden opportunity to equalise as he fired over from 10 yards.
On a day of shocks that showed the FA Cup can still thrill despite its diminished status, National League Wrexham enjoyed one of the more memorable results in the competition’s recent history.
Sam Dalby and Elliot Lee scored to give Wrexham a dream start before Ben Sheaf got one back for Coventry.
Thomas O’Connor grabbed Wrexham’s third before Paul Mullin’s penalty looked to have sealed the win, with Coventry’s Jonathan Panzo sent off for handball.
Viktor Gyokeres and Kasey Palmer struck for Coventry in the closing stages, but Wrexham held on to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2000, sparking a celebratory Instagram post from Reynolds laced with profanity.
Said Benrahma netted with a long-range rocket in the 79th minute against his former club Brentford as struggling West Ham eased the pressure on boss David Moyes with a 1-0 win.
At Anfield, a difficult week for Liverpool that started with a Premier League loss at Brentford concluded with a fortuitous 2-2 draw against Wolves.
Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker was guilty of a woeful error when his pass was intercepted by Goncalo Guedes, who slotted Wolves’ 26th minute opener.
Darwin Nunez cushioned a superb volley past Matija Sarkic to equalise on the stroke of half-time and Mohamed Salah’s deft finish in the 52nd minute put Liverpool ahead.
But the Reds, who gave a debut to Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo after his move from PSV Eindhoven, were pegged back in the 57th minute through Hwang Hee-chan’s composed effort.
And it could have been even worse for Liverpool, who saw Toti’s goal controversially disallowed for offside in the final minutes.
‘Fantastic competition’
Forest boss Steve Cooper named an entirely different starting team for the match at Blackpool after his side’s midweek win against Southampton, which lifted them out of the Premier League relegation zone.
The plan backfired badly as the Championship team won 4-1 at Bloomfield Road, with goals from Marvin Ekpiteta, Ian Poveda, CJ Hamilton and Jerry Yates.
“This is a fantastic competition that I have been quite fortunate to experience fantastic days in and this was one of them,” Blackpool manager Michael Appleton told the BBC.
Two goals each from Anass Zaroury and Manuel Benson put Championship leaders Burnley on course for a 4-2 win at Bournemouth.
Kane strikes
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, England captain Kane scored the only goal of the game in the 50th minute, receiving the ball on the edge of the box and bending a fine curling effort past the despairing dive of Josh Griffiths.
Kane, with four goals in four matches since missing the penalty against France that led to England’s elimination at the World Cup, now has 265 goals for Spurs – just one behind the club’s all-time record scorer, Jimmy Greaves.
“I try to not think about it,” Kane said. “Sometimes you can think too much. Obviously I feel in good form and I feel fit. My mindset is to help the team and hopefully the goals will come.”
Leicester, who won the FA Cup two years ago, ground out a 1-0 win at Gillingham, who sit bottom of the fourth tier.
Jamie Vardy was the provider as Kelechi Iheanacho struck with a clinical finish in the 56th minute.
Premier League basement club Southampton came from behind to beat last year’s semi-finalists Crystal Palace 2-1.
