Fleetwood dumped in-form Sheffield Wednesday out of the FA Cup to reach the fifth round for the first time.
Carlos Mendes Gomes headed the only goal to decide the fourth-round replay and set up a trip to Burnley.
Darren Moore’s Wednesday side are top of League One and had been unbeaten in 15 games dating back to early November.
Fleetwood have lost four straight games in the same division, and this was their first win against Wednesday at the sixth time of asking.
With half an eye on Saturday’s trip to Ipswich, Moore made 10 changes from the side which beat Plymouth on Saturday, including handing a debut to 17-year-old Sean Fusire.
Fleetwood bossed the early stages and the lively Promise Omochere – who scored in the 1-1 draw at Hillsborough in the initial tie – headed an early chance wide and moments later spun in the box and thudded a strike against the post with David Stockdale flat-footed.
The pressure continued as Omochere headed another chance wide and fired off target following another spin.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru shot straight at Jay Lynch at the other end following a neat flick from Lee Gregory who then rattled the underside of the crossbar with a header just before the half-hour.
Phoenix Patterson curled narrowly wide and Danny Andrew drove straight at Stockdale before the break but the hosts could not find a breakthrough for all their dominance.
After a swathe of Owls changes at the break, Fleetwood had to wait until the hour to break the deadlock as Mendes Gomes rose highest to power a header from a free-kick past Stockdale.
Cian Hayes saw appeals for a penalty waved away soon after but it was Moore’s side who finished the stronger.
Michael Smith saw a shot deflected wide, Dele-Bashiru saw penalty appeals dismissed, while Smith got in the way of a Mallik Wilks effort and George Byers fired wide as the visitors ran out of steam.
Fleetwood’s fifth-round game at Turf Moor will take place on either Tuesday, 28 February or Wednesday, 1 March.
Fleetwood manager Scott Brown told BBC Radio Lancashire: “We seem to like the cup. We’ve played an exceptional team four times now (twice in the league and twice in the FA Cup since Boxing Day). At half-time we turned around and saw the ‘Land of the Giants’ coming on and the big guns came on – we were a small team today but what we did do well was look after the ball.
“I’m delighted for these lads, I’ve given them hell the last couple of days. I wasn’t happy with the performance on Saturday (in the 3-2 home defeat by Burton) so over the last couple of days we’ve been working hard, watching a lot of videos, getting an understanding of how we want to play.
“On Saturday, nobody listened. Today was exceptional, every single person did their job. Balls in the box they defended with their lives.
“I thought we dictated the game really well. The second half was always going to be a little bit deeper. From start to finish I thought the lads were exceptional. It was always going to be a hard game and they stood up to it.”
Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore told BBC Radio Sheffield:
“I said at half-time I wasn’t happy with how we started the game. We were lacklustre in our approach and they were more on the front foot. We had a couple of goalmouth scares and (David Stockdale) has pulled off one or two saves.
“Second half we got more into the game, we had a couple of half chances that I thought we could have done better with. To lose the game in the manner that we have, from a set play, is really disappointing because it’s something this season that we’ve taken great pride in.
“The result tonight – we’ve only got ourselves to blame.”
Source – BBC Sport
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