Sutton United's shock

The setting

Coventry City had won the FA Cup only 18 months earlier, beating Tottenham 3–2 in the 1987 final. They came to Sutton fifth in the First Division and in great form: five days earlier they had thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 5–0, with David Speedie scoring a hat-trick.

Sutton United were 13th in the Conference, and their recent form was patchy, including a defeat at bottom club Aylesbury and a home draw with Maidstone. Their players had ordinary day jobs: there were bricklayers, assistant bank managers and insurance clerks in the squad. Captain Tony Rains worked as an insurance clerk.

The bookies had Sutton at 5,000–1 to win the Cup, while Coventry were 16–1 and seventh favourites. Jimmy Greaves, who had famously tipped Coventry to lose in every round of their 1987 run, was now backing them to go far. Coventry historian Jim Brown later wrote that their players clowned around during the warm-up. They weren't laughing by the end.

Sutton's road to the third round

Sutton had already enjoyed a good run the year before, knocking out Third Division Aldershot and Peterborough before losing to Middlesbrough after a replay. Their only previous trip to the fourth round had been in 1970, when Don Revie's Leeds beat them 6–0.

This time they started in the fourth qualifying round against Walton & Hersham. After a 1–1 draw, they won the replay 3–0. In the first round they won 4–0 at Dagenham, with Paul McKinnon scoring twice and Lennie Dennis and Paul Rogers adding the others. Then Dennis scored the only goal at Aylesbury in the second round in front of 2,135, setting up the tie with Coventry.

The manager and the build-up

Barrie Williams was an English literature teacher by profession, known for quoting Shakespeare and Kipling. His programme notes for the Coventry game famously included lines from a Kipling poem, and they still get talked about at the club.

Sutton could have moved the tie to a bigger ground, or even to Highfield Road, to make more money. Williams wanted to stay at home. He said they had chosen romance over cash and believed they had a better chance on their own pitch. Gander Green Lane's usual capacity of about 6,000 was expanded to 8,000 for the day.

The Sutton goalkeeper had a family link to the club's cup history. Trevor Roffey was the son of Dave Roffey, who had played for Sutton in the 1970 tie against Leeds.

First half

The match kicked off around 2pm on a cloudy afternoon, with Alf Buksh refereeing. Coventry started fast, creating three chances in the first two minutes without scoring. After that, Sutton grew into the game. Coventry had most of the ball but couldn't control midfield and had little threat out wide. Their best chance fell to captain Brian Kilcline, who was free in the box but headed straight at Roffey.

Then, three minutes before half-time, Sutton went ahead. Mickey Stephens swung a corner to the near post, Steve Ogrizovic missed it, and Rains got on the end of it to score. Gander Green Lane went wild, and Sutton went in 1–0 up.

Second half

Seven minutes after the restart, Coventry equalised. A Sutton free kick came to nothing, Coventry broke, and Steve Sedgley slipped a pass into the box for David Phillips, who shot past the advancing Roffey.

Sutton responded within minutes. Kilcline nearly headed into his own net and put the ball out for a corner. Stephens played it short to Phil Dawson, who whipped in an outswinging cross, and Matthew Hanlan, a self-employed bricklayer, volleyed it in. Sutton led again.

Coventry threw everything at them. John Sillett sent on Keith Houchen, the hero of their 1987 final, in place of Cyrille Regis around the 70th minute. Houchen won a string of corners, and two of them ended in goal-line clearances from Rains and Robyn Jones. Dave Bennett missed a late chance, and Roffey made a save from a header with seconds remaining. At the final whistle, the stewards couldn't hold back the crowd, and the fans flooded onto the pitch to carry off their heroes.

What they said

Williams said the result would echo right through football, and he was especially proud that Sutton had won by playing good football. Rains admitted he had expected a bit more from Coventry. He also made a lovely point about the difference between the two teams: Coventry's players had spent most of the week away from their families, while Sutton's lot had simply been at work and living normal lives.

Sillett handled defeat with real grace. He said it had been a hard day for his players, that Sunday would be worse when they read the papers and realised they had made history the wrong way round, and that Sutton had played good football and deserved it.

The press loved it. The Times called it the most remarkable FA Cup result for 14 years. The Guardian ranked it with the greatest giant-killings in the competition's history, and The Observer described it as the very essence of Cup magic.

The aftermath

Rains and Hanlan were guests on Terry Wogan's chat show the following Monday, and Hanlan took the afternoon off bricklaying to appear. The fourth-round draw sent Sutton to Norwich, who were second in the First Division. Williams said the fantasy carried on.

At Carrow Road the dream ended in an 8–0 defeat. Robert Fleck scored a 19-minute hat-trick and Malcolm Allen got four, but the Sutton players still did a lap of honour at the end. Hanlan later said that once the interview requests dried up, it was nice to get back to normal life.

Coventry went on to finish seventh, and the following season they were knocked out of the Cup in the third round by Northampton. Sutton's win stood as the last time a non-League side beat a top-flight club until Luton won at Norwich in 2013.

Sutton United: Roffey; Jones, Rains (capt), Golley, Pratt, Rogers, Stephens, Dawson, Dennis, McKinnon, Hanlan. Goals: Rains 42, Hanlan 59. Coventry City: Ogrizovic; Borrows, Phillips, Sedgley, Kilcline, Peake, Bennett, Speedie, Regis (Houchen), McGrath, Smith. Goal: Phillips 52. Referee: Alf Buksh · Attendance: around 8,000.