Non-League Boreham Wood produced a major FA Cup upset by toppling Bournemouth on Sunday.
37-year-old captain Mark Ricketts scored the only goal of the game for the fifth-tier outfit in the first half as they sensationally dumped out promotion-chasing Championship opposition in round four in front of 1,400 jubilant travelling fans at the Vitality Stadium.
Boreham Wood's reward for a mammoth shock is a fairytale last-16 showdown with Premier League outfit Everton at Goodison Park in early March.
Luke Garrard's side - currently fifth in the National League and five points off top spot with now three games in hand - had already eliminated Barnet, Eastleigh and League One AFC Wimbledon to reach the fourth round for the very first time in their history.
They are the first Non-League club to book a place in round five since 2017.
Everton, meanwhile, brushed aside Brentford 4-1 in an all-Premier League affair on Merseyside in what was Frank Lampard’s first match at the helm since succeeding Rafael Benitez.
Boreham Wood players and fans go wild together. What a win. pic.twitter.com/jkm0faaIX4
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) February 6, 2022
“It’s huge, absolutely massive. Coming into this game there was a lot of interest in the club and the community, and now to go away to Goodison Park there will be even more interest drummed up in the club and I think it’s fantastic,” said Boreham Wood hero Ricketts.
Ricketts, who had been a doubt before the game due to injury, added: “I knew the adrenaline would help and drive me through the game and it definitely did. I ran out of steam towards the end but the adrenaline kept me going.”
There were fantastic scenes after the full-time whistle as an emotional Garrard raced onto the pitch to celebrate with players and fans.
"They're unbelievable, that group of men," he told ITV.
"I've got seven lads that aren't available being injured or suspended and they're pestering me to get on the bus to come down and support the boys.
"I was buzzing we scored the goal and I was quite content if we lost 3-1, 4-1 or 5-1, just because I saw our crowd go mental, and to go and finish that and have the scenes we did towards the end was incredible."
Bournemouth’s embarrassment came on the day that they paraded their glut of deadline-day signings that included Nathaniel Phillips, Kieffer Moore, Todd Cantwell, Freddie Woodman and Siriki Dembele.
Woodman and Phillips both started the match against Boreham Wood as Parker made nine changes from the Championship win over Barnsley last weekend, while Cantwell was introduced at half-time in a bid to find a way back into the tie.
Scott Parker’s Cherries did have the ball in the net with 11 minutes to go on the south coast, but Jaidon Anthony’s effort was ruled out for offside after two sensational saves from Boreham Wood goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond to deny both Ryan Christie and Philip Billing.
