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

In the cups, however, it is 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.

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.

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.

Men’s T20 World Cup final, Ahmedabad

India 255-5 (20 overs): Samson 89 (46), Kishan 54 (25), Abhishek 52 (21)

New Zealand 159 (19 overs): Seifert 52 (26); Bumrah 4-15

India won by 96 runs

India banished the ghosts of 2023 by emphatically beating New Zealand by 96 runs in Ahmedabad to defend their T20 World Cup title.

On the same ground they wilted under pressure and expectancy two and a half years ago against Australia in the 50-over showpiece, the co-hosts romped to 255-5 – two more than they managed in Thursday’s semi-final against England – in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 jubilant supporters.

The top three all made the most of supreme batting conditions, with Sanju Samson crashing 89 from 46 deliveries, Abhishek Sharma a 21-ball 52 and Ishan Kishan 54 from 25.

Their total could have been even greater but for Jimmy Neesham taking three wickets in the 16th over. Shivam Dube hit 24 from the last to ensure New Zealand’s respite was only brief.

Tim Seifert whacked 52 from 26 balls but around him New Zealand lost regular wickets in pursuit of a lost cause, including Finn Allen, the Black Caps’ semi-final centurion, for nine in the third over.

The majestic Jasprit Bumrah bamboozled the lower order to finish with 4-15 as New Zealand were bowled out for 159 in 19 overs.

The win means India – the first side to defend the men’s T20 World Cup – have now won the past three men’s white-ball tournaments – this, the 2024 title and the 2025 Champions Trophy.

For two overs, it appeared things could have been just like 2023 when India were far too tentative on, quite literally, cricket’s biggest stage.

There were five dot balls in the first over, bowled by seamer Matt Henry, and only five runs in the second, off Glenn Phillips’ part-time spin.

But Samson and Abhishek took 15 from Jacob Duffy’s first over and 24 from the next bowled by Lockie Ferguson as the innings, and the crowd, roared into life.

Even with that slow start, Abhishek and Samson took 92 runs from the best powerplay ever seen at a World Cup. In comparison, the Black Caps were 52-3 after their first six overs – a crucial difference.

Abhishek had only made one score over 15 in this tournament but flogged the ball to all parts. Samson was again supreme, backing up his 97 not out against West Indies and 89 against England with another innings that mixed flair with a classical technique.

Together he and Abhishek hit 12 of the innings’ 18 sixes, which took India’s tournament total to 106 – 30 more than any other team here and a record for a T20 World Cup.

When left-hander Kishan followed in raising his bat it was the first time the top three had reached fifty in a men’s T20 World Cup. They had 203 runs after 15.1 overs and Dube’s late burst – after a run of 28 runs in 24 balls – ensured India charged beyond a par score.

They took all the momentum, a batting paradise capitalised upon. Afterwards the chase was a slow coronation.

New Zealand, as ever, had battled admirably to this stage. They are so rarely below par but, on this occasion, a poor start cost them.

There were eight wides in the first four overs, as well as some wayward bowling from Duffy and Ferguson.

Seamer Duffy was brought in for off-spinner Cole McConchie, curious given India’s struggles against off-spin in the tournament.

After his first over went for 15, he finished with 0-42 from three – a gamble that did not pay off – while Ferguson’s two overs cost 48.

The pitch remained flat but the weight of a colossal target was too great.

Allen, whose thrilling 33-ball century against South Africa took the Black Caps to this point, survived a comically bad drop from Shivam Dube in the first over but was caught off spinner Axar Patel in the third.

Seifert carried on the assault by striking five sixes before hitting a Varun Chakravarthy long-hop to deep mid-wicket. That was 72-5. The game was done.

The lower order dragged the game out but Bumrah could not be resisted.

Player of the tournament, India wicketkeeper Sanju Samson: “It feels like a dream. Very happy, very grateful. Out of words, out of emotions, it’s a bit surreal.

“In 2024 I couldn’t get a game. I started working, this is exactly what I wanted to achieve. After the New Zealand series I was broke, but I was courageous enough to dream about it.”

Player of the match, India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah: “It feels special because I played one final at my home venue [against Australia in 2023] and couldn’t win that one.

“I was really motivated and used all my experience on a flat wicket. It went exactly as planned.”

Betfred Super League

Huddersfield (0) 6

Try: Flanagan Goal: Russell

Hull KR (16) 32

Champions Hull KR cruised to their first league win of 2026 as they dispatched winless Huddersfield Giants.

After two defeats to start their campaign, the Robins went ahead early and never looked likely to relinquish the two points.

Oliver Gildart, Tom Davies and Joe Burgess scored tries in the first half before two from star man Mikey Lewis after the break and another from Davies completed the job.

Hull KR’s victory takes them up to 12th, above Huddersfield, who sunk to the bottom of the table after a fourth consecutive loss.

Last year’s treble winners have added the World Club title this season with their triumph over Brisbane Broncos last month, but that sandwiched successive league defeats.

The shock loss to newcomers York Knights and the 58-6 hammering by Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas have left them playing catch-up in Super League and they started this game, bottom of the table and already eight points adrift of early leaders Wigan Warriors.

But Gildart’s try inside three minutes got them up and running at the Accu Stadium. Jez Litten dropped the ball with a try begging, but shortly after, winger Davies produced a smart finish in the corner.

Huddersfield finished 10th last year but began that campaign with 10 straight defeats and they have started this one on the wrong foot as well.

That was evident in handling errors within their own half, which handed the ball to their opponents and from Tyrone May’s miss-pass, Burgess walked one in.

Lewis scored the try of the game shortly into the second period with a trademark individual effort as he danced and dummied his way over after picking the ball up just inside the Huddersfield half.

The Giants eventually got on the scoreboard when Flanagan brilliantly caught Tui Lolohea’s high kick and touched down, but it came at a cost as the full-back, the scorer of five of his side’s eight Super League tries in 2026, injured himself on landing.

And it was only a temporary blip for the Robins as Davies rounded off a slick handling move and Lewis grabbed the final try, accelerating his way over.

Huddersfield: Flanagan; Zenon, Gagai, Milne, Carr; Lolohea, Russell; Patolo, Rush, T Burgess, O’Donnell, Billington, English.

Interchanges: Powell, Rogers, King, Cozza.

Hull KR: Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, J Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Hadley, Lawton, Batchelor, Minchella.

Interchanges: Amone, Luckley, Whitbread, Martin.

Sin-bin: Lawton (64)