Sunderland - 1 West Brom - 2: Perhaps the most sobering statistic for Sunderland to reflect on is that for at least another year Daniele Dichio will remain the last player to score an FA Cup tie-winning goal for the club.
That this result has been billed as a major shock by all bar Albion's manager Gary Megson betrays the yawning chasm, in terms of profile at least, between Premiership and first division.
Yet the two protagonists are separated by only 14 clubs in the football hierarchy and, with a favourable wind, West Brom might be in the top flight next season. Their 5,000-strong travelling support here shows they have the fan base. They also struck the woodwork twice, so this was no fluke win for the first division side.
In accordance with the adage of not realising someone's worth until he is gone, Dichio, the gangling striker who scored Sunderland's fourth-round winner against Ipswich last season, was substituted to a standing ovation from the supporters he left two months ago after a sterling performance.
Many of those same supporters had derided him during his staccato stay at the Stadium of Light which came to a halt when his wife could not settle in the north-east.
On this occasion the catcalls were reserved for Sunderland's manager Peter Reid, who was pelted with enough scarves and shirts to set up his own club shop when the final whistle sounded. Out of both cups and becalmed in mid-table, Sunderland's season is in danger of a lingering death.
Effective though Dichio was, he was overshadowed by his strike partner Jason Roberts. Helped by a paper-thin Sunderland defence, Roberts ran amok, claiming a first-half penalty when checked by the hapless Stanislav Varga. This might have been a doubtful asset, as Albion had missed six of their last seven penalties, but Neil Clement converted to equalise.
On the hour Roberts held up the ball and crossed for Andy Johnson to plant a header beyond Thomas Sorensen.
After twice breaking his foot in the last six months following a £2 million sterling switch from Bristol Rovers, Roberts is anxious to make up for lost time. "We want to come to places like Sunderland every week in the Premiership," he said.
After that it was all hands to the pump, although Albion's centre-back triumvirate dealt easily with Sunderland's increasingly desperate long balls into the box, a method which will hardly suit the 5ft 9in Dwight Yorke, the latest striker to take Reid's fancy.
The anxious climax proved in stark contrast to an assured opening when Kevin Phillips, now without a contract to supply his boots, looked likely to fill them. He had to settle, though, for only one goal in his crusade to win recognition from Sven-Goran Eriksson, but memorable it was, propelled with an overhead kick into the top corner from the edge of the area to stem a near 10-hour personal drought.
SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Haas (Kyle 74), Williams (Craddock 51), Varga, McCartney, McAteer, McCann, Thirlwell, Arca (Kilbane 62), Quinn, Phillips. Subs Not Used: Macho, Butler. Booked: Haas, Varga. Goal: Phillips 12.
WEST BROM: Hoult, Gilchrist, Sigurdsson, Moore, Lyttle, Clement, McInnes, Adam Chambers, Johnson, Dichio (Dobie 73), Roberts. Subs Not Used: Jensen, Cummings, Fox, Jordao. Booked: Lyttle, Roberts. Goals: Clement 21 pen, Johnson 61.
Referee: M Dean (The Wirral).
