Outside of the league Maidstone knock Ipswich out of the FA Cup in the Championship

On Saturday, Maidstone United pulled off a historic FA Cup surprise, defeating Championship powerhouse Ipswich Town 2-1 to advance to the competition’s fifth round.

Lamar Reynolds gave Maidstone the lead in the 43rd minute with a brilliant chip, and the striker set up Sam Corne’s winner in the second half to light up the Portman Road away end.

Although Jeremy Sarmiento’s near-post shot put Ipswich, who are second in the Championship and certain to make the Premier League the following season, briefly tied the score, Kieran McKenna’s squad was unable to respond to Corne’s goal ten minutes later.

“I think that comes through in my voice. I’ve been yelling throughout the game, and I’m just now celebrating—I can’t believe we succeeded!” George Fowler, a Maidstone defender, told the BBC.

“Everyone would have said we were the underdogs today, but we dug in, stayed organised, rode our luck, which you have to at times when you come up against such class opposition. But yes, we’re over the moon.

“My first job was making a block on the line in the first minute and I thought to myself, ‘I knew this was going to be tough, but this is a bit early!’ Like I said, we had to ride our luck, stick at it, be organised, and credit to the team, every man worked so, so hard today.”

The signs looked ominous for Maidstone in the game’s opening stages as Ipswich hit the post twice in the first 10 minutes.

But Maidstone grew into the contest and went ahead when Reynolds raced in behind the Ipswich defence and showed great composure to chip the ball over goalkeeper Christian Walton.

Ipswich deservedly equalised in the 56th minute when Sarmiento squeezed a shot through the legs of Maidstone defender Gavin Hoyte to deceive goalkeeper Lucas Covolan.

Just when it seemed as though Ipswich would get the better of the team from the National League South, Maidstone got themselves back in front when Reynolds fed a pass to Corne, who made no mistake with his finish at the near post.

Despite the fact that the two clubs are separated by almost 100 places in the English football pyramid, Ipswich couldn’t find a way to force a replay as a combination of Covolan’s saves and the woodwork frustrated the Championship side and gave Maidstone a historic victory.