CHELSEA and Manchester City's shock defeats in the fourth round of the FA Cup was music to the ears of several punters who backed the underdog on Saturday afternoon.

The Premier League leaders led 2-0 before being astonishingly beaten 4-2 by League One side City, while Manuel Pellegrini's men lost 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough.

Further surprise results, including Leicester's victory at Tottenham, meant that bookmakers paid out large sums of money to those who had correctly predicted Saturday's victors.

Leading bookmaker Coral revealed one punter won £16,000 from a £2 accumulator which included Bradford, Middlesbrough and Leicester, while 113 people backed the Bradford-Middlesbrough double at 200-1 with Ladbrokes.

A man from Blackpool bet £10 on that particular double at 285-1 with William Hill, whose spokesperson Joe Crilly said: "Over Christmas, the punters got more than one over on us, but (Saturday) has seen some of the most unlikely results in the history of the FA Cup.

"It is absolutely astonishing."

Bradford were 200-1 with leading bookmakers Coral and Ladbrokes when they fell 2-0 behind to Jose Mourinho's Blues, while William Hill offered odds of 50-1.

One person opened an account with Stan James and took advantage of the 40-1 odds it was offering at that point, staking £2.50 on the Bantams to win in 90 minutes.

It was, though, a successful day for the bookies too, with Coral enjoying its best single-day figures on FA Cup matches, one week after it suffered its biggest loss in history on football as hundreds of thousands of customers were able to convert £1 and £2 accumulators into five-figure pay-outs as the top 12 selections were all successful.

"Although we are still a long way off recouping our losses from last week, there is no doubt bookmakers up and down the country will be rejoicing this weekend's results," said Coral's John Hill.