It’s time to dish out our FA Cup fourth-round Awards following the weekend’s action, featuring Louis Reed, referee woes, and Pedro Neto.
Moment of the Week
Talking about refereeing decisions in our Moment of the Week is a serious sin, but we can’t overlook the chaos of Aston Villa against Newcastle United. With VAR not in use in round four, we witnessed first hand the impact the technology has had on officials. We’ve all moaned, groaned and lambasted VAR, but the damage might even be deeper than we realised.
Without it, officials seem terrified of making mistakes. First, Aston Villa’s opener was adjudged onside, despite replays clearly to the contrary. Tammy Abraham won’t have minded, but it makes you question how much officials may have deteriorated in this technology-reliant era.
In the second half, there was this. It might just be one of the worst decisions we’ve seen for a long time.
Newcastle were denied a penalty as Lucas Digne appeared to commit a handball offence in the box ❌
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/z9FLpbxnUE
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 14, 2026
Fortunately, justice was served as Newcastle scored from the set piece, but how did the referee and his assistant get this one so wrong?
VAR vindicated? Newcastle win over Villa marred by refereeing errors
Player of the Week
Chelsea cruised to a win at Hull City on Friday night with Pedro Neto the star of the show. A first-ever career hat-trick helped Liam Rosenior see off his former club, a treble taken with aplomb.
Neto whipped in a fine finish from the edge of the area for the opening goal, before scoring directly from a corner as his delivery evaded everyone.
40’—⚽
51’—⚽
71’—⚽First career hat trick for Pedro Neto 🎩 pic.twitter.com/AKIpxNLtwZ
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 13, 2026
He sealed the deal – and match ball – with an emphatic finish to make it 10 goals for the campaign in all competitions. Already, this is now Neto’s best ever goalscoring season.
Goal of the Week
Louis Reed has come alive in the FA Cup this season. That’s three goals for the Mansfield midfielder in this season’s cup campaign, while he’s quickly building his own Goal of the Season catalogue, too.
This fabulous free-kick earned an upset win at Burnley, and a place in round five for Mansfield for the first time in 51 years.
Louis Reed with a stunning free-kick 🤯
What a way to seal a historic win for @mansfieldtownfc 😱#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/WksF38nuwp
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) February 14, 2026
Stat of the Week
Cup progress for Chelsea, who are aiming to debunk Alan Hansen’s famous “You can’t win anything with kids” mantra this season.
The kids, it appears, are actually alright.
105 – For a 105th consecutive game in all competitions, Chelsea have named a starting XI without a single player aged 30 or older; the second longest run by a Premier League team is 47 by Aston Villa between August 1997 and May 1998. Unique. pic.twitter.com/TcuXfWYzYj
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 13, 2026
A week to forget for…
Grimsby Town’s groundsmen. The Blundell Park pitch is going to need some serious TLC after this weekend’s clash with Wolves, with grass certainly in short supply.
We’ve seen pub pitches in better nick than this.
Good luck, lads, it’s going to be a busy week.
The pitch conditions in Wolves’ FA Cup trip to Grimsby 😅 pic.twitter.com/rZLPi5AKNO
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 15, 2026
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