Macclesfield complete greatest FA Cup upset in history as Crystal Palace humiliated | Football | Sport

Macclesfield completed arguably the greatest FA Cup shock in the history of the competition by beating Crystal Palace in Saturday’s third-round clash. The sixth-tier minnows looked surprisingly comfortable against their Premier League opponents, who are 117 places above them in the English league system, and produced a display for the ages to secure a 2-1 victory. Their game plan was spot on and they were rewarded with a win that will live long in the memory of everybody associated with the club.

The match was billed as the pick of the third-round ties before kick-off, with Macclesfield the lowest-ranked side remaining in the tournament. They were drawn against the current FA Cup holders and were largely written off before a ball had even been kicked. However, in true fairytale fashion, they defied the odds and pulled off a shock that will reverberate around the football world.

Thousands of fans packed into the Leasing.com Stadium for the fixture and were treated to a moment of history as Macclesfield did the unthinkable.

Luke Duffy put them ahead in the first half, steering a guided header past the flailing arms of Walter Benitez and into the back of the net.

Macclesfield doubled their lead after the break, with Isaac Buckley-Ricketts sticking out a leg and wrong-footing Benitez as the ball trickled into the corner of the goal.

Palace, who never really got going at any point during the match, came close to halving the deficit just moments later as Christantus Uche flashed a shot narrowly wide of the post.

Macclesfield goalkeeper Luis Lacey pulled off a string of fine saves to protect his side’s advantage in the closing stages, but was eventually beaten by a late free-kick from Yeremy Pino.

Palace huffed and puffed in search of a dramatic equaliser to break Macclesfield hearts but it never came, with the full-time whistle being met by huge cheers from the bumper home crowd.

It came almost six years after the original Macclesfield Town suffered liquidation and were expelled from the National League due to debts in excess of £500,000.

They were revived as Macclesfield FC and have since worked their way up to the National League North, having started from the very bottom.

Their victory against Palace is by far the greatest result in their short history and marks arguably the biggest FA Cup upset in the history of the tournament.

Speaking to BBC Sport afer the final whistle, Macclesfield boss John Rooney said: “When we got late in the game and thought about slowing it down, I never thought we’d be in that situation. I can’t get my head around it. Lost for words at the minute.

“We were incredible for the first minute. The message at half-time was to manage the game, then we went two up and I didn’t see that coming. We were incredible to a man and we nullified them.”