Teenage defender Haughey's penalty dumps Arsenal out of Carabao Cup for Fleetwood

Conor Haughey fired the winning penalty as League Two Fleetwood Town stunned Premier League champions Arsenal 5-3 in a shootout at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night, booking a place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history. The game had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Arsenal’s £75m signing Bruno Guimarães missing the Gunners’ decisive kick.

Haughey, 19, is a product of Fleetwood’s youth system after joining from Glentoran in Northern Ireland — the same club where he became their youngest-ever player when he debuted at 15 years, three months and eight days old. Stepping up last with the tie on the line, he showed no sign of nerves. “You have to pick your side and trust yourself,” he said afterwards. “All our players did that. It is a historic night.”

His former Glentoran academy director Andy Mathieson was not surprised. “He would have hit the last penalty in the World Cup final if he got the chance. Nothing ever fazed him. The sky’s the limit for him.”

The scale of the upset was stark. Fleetwood, sitting 18th in League Two with just three league wins this season, were separated from Arsenal by 84 places in the English football pyramid. Their 5,327-capacity stadium sits eight miles north of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast. The squad’s average wage is around £2,000 a week, with a total wage bill of approximately £2.7 million and a transfer budget of roughly £1.6 million. Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka alone earns an estimated £350,000 a week, and the Gunners spent around £223 million in the transfer market this year.

The tie had its share of drama before a ball was even kicked: a drone sighting delayed kick-off, Arsenal teenager Max Dowman was sent off during the match, and difficult weather conditions made for an unpredictable evening. A crowd of 5,002 inside Highbury Stadium witnessed what manager Matt Lawlor described as a result he had not dared anticipate.

“I did not consider that we could win the game,” Lawlor admitted, before rushing onto the pitch to embrace Haughey as jubilant supporters spilled over the advertising hoardings. The players and staff celebrated deep into the night, with Fleetwood now awaiting their quarter-final draw — uncharted territory for the club known as the Cod Army.