UK celebrity Mark Wright makes debut as Leeds stunned by Crawley Town in FA Cup clash

Joe Wright

UK celebrity Mark Wright makes debut as Leeds stunned by Crawley Town in FA Cup clash image

Leeds United suffered an FA Cup shock on Sunday as the Premier League side lost 3-0 to Crawley Town, for whom television star Mark Wright made his debut.

Marcelo Bielsa's men became only the second top-flight team to lose by at least three goals to a fourth-tier side in the competition since the English Football League added the bottom division in 1958.

The last side to suffer such a result was Oxford United, who lost by the same scoreline against Aldershot Town in January 1987.

Crawley, who are sixth in League Two, had lost their three previous FA Cup matches with Premier League teams, against Manchester United, Stoke City and Reading, while they had not reached this stage of the competition in eight years.

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Nick Tsaroulla scored a fine opener 50 minutes into what was just his seventh appearance in senior football, and Ashley Nadesan doubled the lead three minutes later following an error by goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.

Jordan Tunnicliffe netted a deserved third for Crawley, for whom Wright, best known for his work in English reality TV series The Only Way Is Essex, made a late substitute appearance. Wright previously enjoyed stints with Tottenham and Arsenal's academies as a teenager before ending up playing in non-league. 

"You have to enjoy these games - you work hard enough for it. It was a really good team performance and it's clear that we've got 11 star men," Crawley manager John Yems told BBC Sport post-match. 

"These players have got a lot to prove to the clubs who have released them and we've showed what we can do against a really good side.

"Let's see who we get in the next round and enjoy the moment."

Leeds have now been knocked out of the cup at this stage for the past four seasons, their worst run since another four-campaign stretch from 2003-04 until 2006-07.

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.