Macclesfield defeated Crystal Palace in the third round on Saturday, completing arguably the biggest shock in FA Cup history. The underdog side from the sixth tier looked surprisingly comfortable against their Premier League opponents, who are 117 places above them in England’s league system, putting in a perennial performance to secure a 2-1 victory. Their game plan paid off and they achieved a victory that will live long in the memories of everyone involved at the club.
The match was billed as a third-round tie pick before kick-off, with Macclesfield becoming the bottom team remaining in the tournament. They were drawn against the current FA Cup holders and almost had it written off before a ball was even kicked. But in true fairytale fashion, they defied the odds and shocked the football world.
Thousands of fans packed into Leasing.com Stadium for the match, witnessing a moment in history as Macclesfield achieved the unthinkable.
Luke Duffy put his team ahead in the first half, curling a deflected header over the swinging arm of Walter Benitez and into the back of the net.
Macclesfield doubled their lead after the break when Isaac Buckley-Ricketts stuck out his foot and Benitez’s wrong foot sent the ball into the top corner.
Palace never really found their groove at any point in the game, but Crisstantus Uche nearly halved the lead moments later when his shot went just wide of the target.
Macclesfield goalkeeper Luis Lacey made a series of fine saves in the closing stages to protect his team’s advantage, but was ultimately brought down by Jeremy Pino’s late free-kick.
Palace held their breath in search of a dramatic equalizer that would break Macclesfield’s hearts, but it didn’t happen and the final whistle was greeted with a huge cheer from the packed home crowd.
It was almost six years after the former Macclesfield Town went into liquidation and were kicked out of the National League with debts exceeding £500,000.
They were reborn as Macclesfield FC and started from the bottom of the table and worked their way up to National League North.
Their victory over Palace was by far the best result in their short history and marks arguably the biggest FA Cup upset in the tournament’s history.
After the final whistle, Macclesfield manager John Rooney told BBC Sport: “When the game slowed down and we thought we were going to slow down, we never thought we would be in that situation. It’s confusing. I was speechless at that moment.”
“In the first minute we were unbelievable. The message at half-time was to control the game. Then we had a two-goal lead, but we didn’t see it coming. We were unbelievable for the guys and we nullified them.”
