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THE first Saturday of January is traditionally when the minnows of the football league get the chance to cause an upset with their more illustrious neighbours.
Whilst dreams of actually making it to Wembley might be a little far fetched, securing victory in a third round tie is very much a possibility for these smaller clubs.
This year was particularly promising given the number of Premiership teams playing away from home against teams from the Championship and League One.
Ironically though, it was Everton, who had a home game against Krazy Kev's lowly Oldham, who proved to be the biggest shock exit of the round.
A stunning late first half goal was enough for Oldham to hang onto and the 1-0 score line was the standout result of the weekend. David Moyes, as with other Premiership managers, had decided to field a weakened team in the hope of resting both the first team and winning the game.
Plenty of loyal fans though bombarded the airwaves with criticism of this policy as they will be the ones taking stick at work for the humiliation of the defeat and in all likelihood it was the only tournament they might have ended up winning this season.
However, this is not the way of football these days. Apart from the big four, the rest of the elite division do not strive for the ultimate glory of winning trophies. No, they have different goals and they are either staying in the Premiership or sneaking into the Champions League depending on which end of the table they are at.
This sad state of affairs has come about because of the divide that now exists between the Premiership and the Championship, but this is mainly about money and not the standard of football as this weekend has proved.
Blackburn humiliated losing 4-1 at home to Coventry; Huddersfield 2-1 victors over Birmingham and Bolton losing 1-0 at the Reebok to Sheffield United were the main casualties on Saturday. All three teams, like Everton, fielded weakened teams and ultimately paid the price.
The real problem for these clubs though is that they do not have enough quality in their squads to get away with doing it. Once the first choice players are removed then the difference in talent between themselves and the Championship sides is more evenly matched.
Of course, this does not apply to the big four. Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea came through their games with many first team players left on the bench and only Liverpool struggled in their match away to Luton. They should, however, win the replay and unless they draw each other in the fourth round these four will progress further and will probably contest the final yet again.
As Steve Coppell of Reading pointed out prior to this weekend, if they put their mind to it they will win the FA Cup as they have done for the past 12 years. This is, of course, statistically correct but we only have to look back two years to see that West Ham came within seconds of winning the trophy against Liverpool.
If every club outside the top four believe this to be true then it is highly likely we will ever see an underdog going all the way to Wembley and winning the FA Cup which is a sad indictment of the current sate of English Football.
It is not all doom and gloom though as at least Martin O'Neil and Sven Goran Eriksson shared their dreams of doing well in the competition but unfortunately Villa went out to Manchester United and Man City drew with West Ham.
Sunday saw the game that every neutral fan was looking to for an upset when under pressure Sam Alladyce took his Newcastle side to Stoke City. It was a very lacklustre performance by the Tyneside team but at least they scraped through with a draw and should now win the home leg and progress to the next round.
Whether this is enough to keep the manager's job is another thing though as distrust of his coaching methods runs deep with many fans and the style of play does not fit the Newcastle traditions.
It is going to be a tough few weeks for Big Sam with games in the Premiership against Manchester United and Arsenal not helping to relieve the pressure. To survive he might not have to win these games but he cannot let his side be humiliated as the fans don't just expect survival, they expect trophies.
The FA Cup might well be this trophy but the odds are against it and to be honest it is not the Holy Grail it once was. It may be the oldest cup competition in the world but it is now a watered down version of its former self and the football calendar is a poorer place for it.
