And they say The Fens are flat. Not yesterday as Histon scaled a mountain to claim a famous win that neither set of fans could quite believe. A Cambridgeshire village went global.

There can be no finer tribute to the potential for drama provided by English football’s promotion and relegation system and the age-old format of the FA Cup. No greater riposte to the selfish few at the apex of the pyramid who seek to lock the exit door from the top flight because they care more about money than magic.

This was the sport’s equivalent of a physics experiment: what happens when a large object moving downwards collides with a smaller vessel climbing rapidly? On New Year’s Day 2002, Leeds United were top of the Premiership and Histon seven levels below in the Southern League eastern division. They were still seven tiers apart in 2003-04. Yesterday, for one afternoon, Histon performed an overtaking manoeuvre.

Rain had started to fall long before kick-off and it continued incessantly during the game. Perfect boggy conditions for a fallen-giant-killing. Only now do the leading clubs enter the cup, but this still had the feel of a classic third-round clash, the contrast between opponents seeming far more pronounced than the two divisions separating these sides. No surprise given their respective histories. Histon’s greater hunger changed the odds. It made every 50-50 ball seem closer to 90-10 in their favour.

Times Archive, 1971: Colchester might have scored six

Two goals down at the interval and three behind within the hour, mighty Leeds United stood shattered and humiliated

• Topic: FA Cup upsets

Danny Wright was a stand-out among the Histon heroes, indefatigable up front. But all were virtually flawless, as well as possessing the happy knack of being in the right place in the closing stages for the inevitable desperate clearances. “We deserved the win and had a bit of luck when we needed it,” Steve Fallon, the Histon manager, said.

The winner came in the 39th minute, Matthew Langston heading in a corner. Langston fancies himself as a goalscoring centre half but has endured a fallow period. A few months ago he decided he would not shave until he scored again, but abandoned the plan because he was beginning to resemble W. G. Grace.

Lubomir Michalik hit a post in the second half and had a shot cleared off the line by Antonio Murray, a substitute, inside the final ten minutes. Otherwise, for Histon, like Langston, there were few close shaves.

And so Leeds went the way of Swindon Town in the previous round and Gary McAllister became the latest manager to leave the Glass World Stadium with a glazed expression. The Leeds manager said that defeat had made his stomach churn.

“I know the importance of this competition,” he said. “I sometimes wonder, 'Do the players know how important this is?'”

Langston explained how Histon had approached the tie. “They’re not the European Cup side of seven years ago, they’re a League One side only a couple of places above Swindon, and we had beaten them,” he said.

Histon players and fans danced deliriously in the downpour as Leeds trudged off, a big club belittled and made little. Out of the FA Cup in Impington: Leeds’s sodden hell, their village of the damned.

Histon (4-4-2): D Naisbitt – L Oyebanjo, M Langston, P Ada, G Gwillim – J Barker (sub: A Murray, 49min), M Mitchel King, J Simpson, N Knight-Percival – J Midson, D Wright. Substitutes not used: E Okay, C Pope, J Kennedy, N Andrews, D Reeves, J Welch. Booked: Wright.

Leeds United (4-4-2): D Lucas – F Richardson, L Michalik, R Marques, A Sheehan – A Hughes (sub: J Howson, 59), F Delph, J Douglas, A Robinson (sub: E Showunmi, 52) – L Becchio, R Snodgrass. Substitutes not used: C Ankergren, D Prutton, N Kilkenny, B Parker, P Telfer.

Referee: N Swarbrick. Attendance: 4,500.

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