Maidstone United fans celebrate FA Cup win against Ipswich Town
Published: 15:50, 27 January 2024
Updated: 18:47, 27 January 2024
Maidstone United have made incredible cup history knocking out Championship side Ipswich Town.
Some 4,500 fans from Kent travelled to Suffolk for the fourth round clash at Portman Road while pubs back in the town were packed for the big match.
Victory for the Stones will see them in the hat for the fifth round draw after winning a place in the last 16 after beating the Tractor Boys 2-1 today.
The lowest ranked side in the competition, four divisions separated Maidstone from their opponents, who sit second in the Championship and chasing promotion to the Premier League.
Huge cheers were seen at the final whistle in the Duke of Marlborough pub in Union Street back in Maidstone as fans gathered to watch on TV.
Celebrations for the Stones’ first goal – a delightful chip over the Ipswich keeper by Lamar Reynolds – proved too much for one fan after he was seen tumbling from the top tier of the stand into the home supporters below.
Ipswich Town said the club is investigating the incident.
A statement said: “The club is aware of an incident involving a Maidstone United supporter in the Cobbold Stand at Portman Road during today’s Emirates FA Cup fourth-round fixture.
“The club is investigating the issue thoroughly.”
Callum Glazier, from Maidstone, has followed the club since he was seven years old.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” the 32-year-old said.
“They were so good. It was unbelievable until the very last moment.
“It was not until the last 60 seconds we started to think we were actually going to win.”
He said after the final whistle the loyal fans were all a bit stunned.
“Everyone was thinking, ‘Is this real? Are we really experiencing this moment?’”
Callum said it was a wonderful moment he was grateful to be able to share with his twin brother, Harri his dad Graham and his godfather, Bob Piggott, who he has watched games with for the last 25 years.
He added: “I’m used to going to watch them play in places where the lights flicker because someone’s forgotten to put a penny in the metre and there are only 150 people watching.”
He said just to be watching a game in a huge stadium with thousands of fans and the match being on the TV was excitement enough.
“To get to this stage we were thinking it would just be a great day out.
“They hit the post twice in the first 10 minutes and we thought it was going to be a long afternoon but we’re just going to have a fun time.
“Then all of a sudden we scored a goal and we were one up at half time. We thought what on earth is going on but we still thought: ‘It’s going to end soon.’”
Callum said the FA Cup season has just kept on delivering.
“This cup run just keeps giving us moments. You think you’ve had the top moment and normality is going to resume and then it goes up another level.”
The primary school teacher said he made a foil FA Cup to take to their first game which he has to keep fixing as it gets destroyed in each celebration and is then needed for the next round.
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Keely Greenwood