It never fails to serve up a surprise.
With the parameters of the league system dictating the level at which teams can compete there is no substitute for the magic ignited on a night of cup football.
Despite autumn truly taking a hold of Britain with darker evenings and bracing conditions on the terraces the heat provided on the field is far from simmering.
An exhilarating night of football in the Capital One Cup fourth round saw five matches each with unique talking points and all worthy of stealing the headlines.
All of Tuesday night’s fixtures featured top-flight teams, two proceeding and three eliminated from this term’s competition.
Sports editors country-wide will not have pondered too long on the centre-stage story of the night which without a doubt occurred at the Madejski Stadium.
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side would not have expected to face 120 minutes of football featuring eight yellow cards and an extraordinary 12 goals.
Within 37 minutes of the kick-off Reading has taken a four-goal lead against the Premier League side on home turf.
A second half comeback from the Gunners, inspired by two goals from Theo Walcott, levelled the match at 4-4 taking it into an extra half hour.
Arsenal took the lead just before the half way stage in extra time before another scintillating twist in the saga saw Reading draw level once again.
With penalties beckoning it was beginning to look like the tie could only be decided through the dreaded shootout.
But, as with any theatre, there had to be a final dramatic twist. This time virtue of Theo Walcott as he completed his hat-trick before Chamakh put the tie to bed with a historic finish resulting in a 7-5 victory for the Gunners.
However, Reading and Arsenal were not the only ones to provide an evening of sporting theatre.
League Two side Bradford City travelled to the DW Stadium to take on Wigan Athletic.
Having managed to hold Roberto Martinez’s Wigan side to a goalless draw after 90 minutes few would have expected what was to follow.
A further 30 minutes saw more heroic defending and passionate rallying from the Bradford players meant the deadlock remained.
They say penalty shootouts are a lottery, Bradford City will claim it is a test of true steel after they triumphed 4-2 from the spot to knock out a Premier League side for the first time since 1995 when they beat Nottingham Forest in the second round.
Furthermore Southampton produced a below-par performance at Elland Road as Leeds United sealed a quarter-final spot.
The home side took a first half lead against Nigel Adkins’ Premier League side before goals from Diouf and Becchio completed a 3-0 victory of the Whites leaving Southampton on the wrong end of an eventful evening of cup football.
Meanwhile a spirited Swindon team under the leadership of Paolo Di Canio fought back to scare Aston Villa at the County Ground.
The top-flight outfit were two up at the interval but a brace from Miles Storey brought the League One challengers well and truly back into the game.
Paul Lambert’s Villa managed to clinch victory without overtime or embarrassment as Christian Benteke doubled his tally for the night giving the visitors a 3-2 victory.
Finally, Middlesbrough became the second Championship side to make the last-eight following their well-earned win against Sunderland in the Wear-Tees showdown.
A lone first-half goal from Scott McDonald was the difference between the two as Tony Mowbray’s men continue to march on in their league cup campaign.
Recounting all the drama from the night’s action reminds of the beauty of the cup.
The cup allows teams who should not be meeting according the footballing hierarchy to test their skills against each other and the result, dazzling sporting theatre.
Long live the magic of the cup.
Mere reflections on a phenomenal night of footballing action.
That’s all.
Ben Hampshire (@BH92)
Through the sports lens 