Sam Allardyce was mightily relieved to not be joining the big teams who spent a big part of the weekend crying the FA Cup eyes out!

And he revealed he’s told the squad: ‘Don’t be a victim of what happened this weekend and don’t be another casualty’.

“I told them to be utterly professional and make sure if the opposition beat you, they have to produce something special.

“We got that one bit of quality when Andy Carroll went down the right and crossed for Diafra to win us the game.”

Trying to make sense of  the shock home defeats for Chelsea against Bradford and Manchester City against Middlesbrough he said:  “The gap in finances might be big but the gap in terms of quality is not as great as everybody expects.

“A team can be inspired by the FA Cup to produce a very good performance. If it’s going in your favour and it’s your day then big teams can always get knocked out. That’s what makes the Cup so exciting.”