Polish fourth-tier club emulate Fleetwood in Cup upset of league champions

Oct 28 - Polish champions Lech Poznan crashed out of the Polish Cup on Wednesday after a 1-0 defeat by fourth-tier Siarka Tarnobrzeg, one day after Fleetwood Town stunned Arsenal in England's League Cup.

Arkadiusz Kasia's second-half header from a corner was enough to send Siarka into the last 16 and complete another upset for a top-flight title holder.

Six days ago, Lech held Premier League side Sunderland to a 1-1 draw in the Europa League and they beat Legia Warsaw on Sunday to move top of the Ekstraklasa standings, but on Wednesday they were brought back down to earth.

The match was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. but the early midweek kickoff did not stop home fans from packing the Stadion Miejski.

"Vacation, truancy, sick leave - attendance at the Polish Cup is mandatory" read one banner at the ground.

Siarka spent three seasons in the top flight back in the 1990s, but have since bounced between the third and fifth tiers. Their Cup run could well have supporters dreaming that those glory days may return.

They beat another top-flight club, Zaglebie Lubin, in the previous round and will hope the bigger sides continue to take them for granted.

"I can't say what was going through Lech's players' heads, but I imagine most of them arrived here not even knowing what Tarnobrzeg looked like," Siarka keeper Tomasz Pytlak told TVP Sport.

"So I think they underestimated us a little and didn't expect us to have this level of quality."

The 17-year-old was far from overawed by the opposition, and was asked whether he had suffered with nerves ahead of the fixture.

"No, actually yesterday I watched the first half of Piast Gliwice against Gornik Zabrze (Cup holders), but it was a terribly boring match," Pytlak replied.