Non-league Macclesfield on Saturday stunned FA Cup holders Crystal Palace 2-1 in one of the greatest FA Cup shocker at Moss Rose.
The sixth tier team started the day 117 places below the Palace in the English football league pyramid.
The defeat came just eight months after Palace lifted their first major trophy defeating Manchester City at Wembley.
Following the 2-1 defeat to Macclesfield, Palace became the first Premier League/FA Cup holders to lose to non-league opposition since Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1909.
Goals from captain Paul Dawson and Isaac Buckley-Rickett, and overseen by coach John Rooney, the younger brother of former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, inspired the non-league side to a two goal lead before a 90th minute consolation goal by Yeremy Pino for the Premier League side.
John Rooney’s side, who are 14th in National League North, took the lead when the bandaged skipper Dawson, who worked as a motorway supervisor, planted a back-post header into the far corner shortly before half-time.
Palace, who named a starting lineup that included England internationals Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton and the £26m Spain winger Yeremy Pino, were disjointed throughout on an artificial pitch and Macclesfield doubled their advantage in the 61st minute when Buckley-Rickett flicked in.
The victory makes it the biggest-ever FA Cup upset in the history of the oldest cup competition in the world.
It is also a win that could kick-start a new dawn for the club after years of turmoil off the pitch.
Founded in 1871, Macclesfield Town
were wound up in the High Court after their debts exceeded £500,000.
But, Macclesfield were reborn in 2020 after going out of business and being expelled from the Football League.
Thousands of supporters flooded onto the pitch at the sound of the full-time whistle as Macclesfield became the first sixth-tier team to beat Premier League opposition.
Macclesfield’s victory also came less than a month after young forward Ethan McLeod was killed in a car accident at the age of 21, with tributes paid to the former Wolves academy graduate before the match.
McLeod’s parents were guests at the Moss Rose stadium, with captain Dawson dedicating his side’s victory
“That was for him, that was for Ethan,” to a player who was part of the Macclesfield squad that knocked out Slough Town in the second round.
“It’s been a really tough time and we’ve all stuck together through it. It’s never, ever gonna get easier. We’ve still got pictures up in the changing room.
“Those will never go. It has been really tough. But Ethan, I think he’d be looking down today and he’ll be proud of us as well,” Dawson said.
