Category Sports News

When the final whistle blew to confirm non-league Macclesfield’s stunning FA Cup upset of holders Crystal Palace, it prompted memorable scenes. Fans poured on to the pitch and lifted captain Paul Dawson into the air.

With his head bandaged after a clash early in a remarkable 2-1 win, Dawson embodied the spirit and character of the whole team as they made light of being ranked five divisions and 117 places below their Premier League opponents.

In terms of the difference in league places, it was the greatest shock in the prestigious competition’s long history. The gap was not evident on the pitch – Macclesfield fully deserved the result.

On 16 December, Silkmen forward Ethan McLeod died in a car accident while travelling back from their National League North match at Bedford Town.

He was in the thoughts of all those connected to Macclesfield throughout their memorable day on Saturday.

A picture of him hung between the dugouts while there was a banner paying tribute in the stands at Moss Rose. The 21-year-old’s parents were at the game.

“I just walked in the office then and his parents are in the office celebrating with us,” Macclesfield boss John Rooney said afterwards.

“I said to his parents: He is definitely watching down on us today. I feel he is here with us.

It isn’t that long since Crystal Palace were celebrating an FA Cup upset of their own, beating Manchester City at Wembley last May to win the trophy for the first time.

But whereas Macclesfield’s players played with passion and pride, Palace were well out of sorts. This was their ninth consecutive game without a win in all competitions.

Victory made Macclesfield the first non-league team to eliminate the FA Cup holders since Crystal Palace knocked out Wolves in the 1908-09 first round.

The Silkmen also became the first non-league team to score twice in an FA Cup match against a Premier League team since Kettering Town versus Fulham in 2009, and the first against the holders since Runcorn against Preston in 1939.

“The boys were outstanding. I couldn’t be any prouder,” Rooney, brother of former England and Manchester United striker Wayne, added.

“That has got to be the biggest upset. I cannot get my head around it. I thought we deserved to win the game.

Many will feel Macclesfield fans deserved this moment after the difficulties they have endured in recent years.

In 2020, Macclesfield Town ceased trading, consigning 146 years of football to the history books.

Local businessman Robert Smethurst bought the club’s assets and, with former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage joining the board, they were reformed as a phoenix club.

After joining the ninth-tier North West Counties Premier Division, three promotions in four seasons have lifted them to the sixth tier, where they are just a handful of points outside the play-off places despite being in the bottom half of the table.

With Savage having left to join Forest Green Rovers, John Rooney took charge and he has fashioned a side who play with confidence and purpose, no matter who they face.

That image of bandaged captain Dawson celebrating with the fans will likely become iconic, certainly among the club’s supporters when they reflect upon a day that will live long in the memory.

“That shows what he is about,” Rooney said of Dawson.

“He’ll take cuts, he’ll take bruises. He’s a warrior. He pops up with goals, as well. He is not the biggest profile, but he is fantastic in the air.”

Rooney’s brother Wayne, covering the match for BBC Sport, was full of pride.

“It’s incredible to see my younger brother achieve this,” he said.

The FA Cup is renowned for delivering shocks and memorable moments and this result will rank among the best.

“We have just witnessed one of the greatest moments in FA Cup history,” former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock said.

“They showed quality. What a day for Macclesfield and what a day for those players.”

Former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson added: “The greatest cup competition in the world provides another piece of incredible history in front of our eyes.

“Macclesfield fans young and old have been waiting years for this. Every single one of these players put in a special performance today.

Stade Francais: (0) 27

Tries: Melikidze, Motassi, Penalty, Laloi Cons: Barre Pens: Barre

Exeter: (17) 25

Undisciplined Exeter threw away a 22-point lead as they lost at Stade Francais in the European Challenge Cup.

Paul Brown-Bampoe’s 15th-minute try and Scott Sio’s score in stoppage time at the end of the first half put Exeter 17-0 up at the break.

Sio got another soon after the restart to put Exeter 22-0 ahead, before Giorgi Melikidze replied soon after for Stade.

Thibaut Motassi’s try reduced the gap further as Exeter gave away penalty after penalty.

Greg Fisilau was sin-binned for bringing down a 63rd-minute maul, with replacement Lewis Pearson giving away a penalty try for a similar offence a minute later.

Down by two men, Charles Laloi’s try put the hosts ahead soon after, but Henry Slade’s drop goal from 35 metres with eight minutes left saw Exeter go a point in front despite being short-handed.

But Leo Barre’s penalty four minutes later, after another Exeter error, sealed the English side’s fate.

Exeter needed try-saving tackles from Ethan Roots and Slade inside the first 12 minutes, before going ahead three minutes later when Brown-Bampoe got on the end of a long Dafydd Jenkins pass to go over in the left corner.

It gave the Chiefs confidence and they began to threaten more, although both sides struggled to get into their opponents’ red zone as Slade added a penalty six minutes before the interval.

It took until stoppage time in the first half for either team to have any meaningful time in their opponent’s red zone – and Exeter made the most of it as Sio crashed over from close range following phase after phase of pressure on the Stade line.

Sio got a second close-range try five minutes after the restartm before Melikidze replied for the hosts from a similar range six minutes later after their first period of pressure on the Exeter line.

Exeter’s discipline began to ebb away under the increased pressure from the hosts, and following a five-metre lineout after a fourth successive penalty, Motassi sniped over from a metre out with 20 minutes to go.

Another lineout from a penalty saw Fisilau bring down a maul, and when Pearson did the same seconds later Exeter were reduced to 13 men and had a penalty try awarded against them.

Within three minutes they were behind, as Barre fed Joe Jonas, who put Laloi through in the right corner for Stade’s bonus-point try.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

“It unwound in a weird kind of way. We got a scrum in opposition territory and we’re calling a forward pick and go straight off the scrum, but we’ve got all our eight forwards in the scrum, and it’s just one of those weird things when you go ‘Why are we doing it’ and then we get turned over at the first ruck.

“We get penalised at that, penalised at the next maul, a yellow card, and all of a sudden the whole momentum of the game has shifted.

“That’s something for us to go ‘What causes the first decision? What causes the next two decisions?’. Then all of a sudden we’ve got 13 men on the field and they’re coming right back at us.

“But what happens? We show the character to get back in the lead and it looks like we’re getting ourselves back in control, but then again we start doing something weird in our own half and we get punished.

Stade Francais: Jonas; Laloi, Marchant, Vili, Etien; Foursans-Bourdette, Motassi; Iscaro, Nicotera, Alo-Emile, Gabrillagues (capt), Turagacoke, Scelzo, Hirigoyen, Mapu

Replacements: Garcia Albo, Alo-Emile, Melikidze, Pesenti, Briatte, Delbouis, Abadie, Barre

Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Rigg, Brown-Bampoe; Haydon-Wood, Chapman; Sio, Dweba, Tchumbadze, Jenkins (capt), Zambonin, Hooper, Roots, Fisilau.

Replacements: Yeandle, Goodrick-Clarke, Roots, Tuima, Pearson, James, Cairns, Coen.

Yellow card: Fisilau (64), Pearson (65)

Arsenal manager Renee Slegers says time-wasting by goalkeepers in the Women’s Super League can harm the “attractiveness” of the game.

Slegers’ side were held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United, who were reduced to 10 players at Emirates Stadium for almost 30 minutes on Saturday.

Following United full-back Jayde Riviere’s sending off, goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce went down requesting medical attention and it allowed her team-mates the opportunity to speak with coaches on the sidelines for several minutes.

Arsenal fans cheered when she was later booked for perceived time-wasting

United boss Marc Skinner said Tullis-Joyce “had something and the doctors went on to see it” but admitted he could understand “the cynical side”.

Asked whether he would welcome the introduction of a rule which helps prevent time-wasting, Skinner said: “I think the referees have tried to put things in place.

“If one of our [outfield] players gets injured by an accidental challenge, they have to come off for 30 seconds so you lose an advantage there. So I think it’s hard.

“But from my perspective, I’d happily explore it because we regularly face it ourselves.”

Arsenal were dominant for large spells of the game but were wasteful in front of goal on a frustrating afternoon.

But Slegers said the breaks in play affected their momentum and made the game less attractive to watch.

“When you look at the bigger picture, there are so many people investing to come and watch us in the stadium or on TV,” said Slegers.

“The product needs to be attractive and this is one of the areas that probably brings the entertainment down a little bit.

“I haven’t had much time to think about the exact solution but I think there are other people who are thinking about that… hopefully!”

One suggestion has been to only allow club captains to go to the side of the pitch and prevent the squad huddling around coaches for tactical advice.

When that idea was put to Slegers, she said: “Yeah, I’ve heard that suggestion. That could be an example. But I think there is so much at stake that teams, players and coaches are always looking at how they can stretch the rules.

Investec Champions Cup

Bulls (28) 49

Tries: Rudolph, Jacobs 2, Penalty, Kriel, de Klerk, Le Roux Cons: Pollard 6

Bristol: (47) 61

Bristol qualified for the Champions Cup knockout stage by winning an astonishing 16-try, 110-point contest with the Bulls in Pretoria.

The Bears raced into a 21-0 lead after seven minutes and had secured the bonus point inside the opening 15 minutes through Kalaveti Ravouvou.

The incredibly open nature of the game continued as Bears wing Noah Heward completed a first-half hat-trick and Stravino Jacobs scored two for the Bulls to make the score 47-28 at the break.

Victory moves Bears top of Pool 4 before the rerun of last year’s final between Northampton and Bordeaux on Sunday and puts them in a strong position for a home tie in the last 16, although they do have to negotiate a tough home game against the French holders on 18 January.

The match looked like it would set a new record for aggregate points in a Champions Cup match at one stage.

However, at 110, it fell the equivalent of two converted tries short, meaning the record still stands at 124, which was racked up in a match between Toulouse and Ebbw Vale in 1998-99.

In a remarkable opening, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Max Lahiff strolled over before Heward intercepted a Bulls pass to race over from distance.

The Bulls got on the scoreboard after 13 minutes when Jeandre Rudolph collected a loose ball to dive over but it did nothing to dent Bristol’s momentum and they claimed the try bonus point after 15 minutes.

Heward grabbed his second with an acrobatic finish before Kieran Marmion crossed and by the time Jacobs had scored his second for the ninth try of the contest the score was 42-21 after 28 minutes.

Jacobs was denied a hat-trick just before the break when Bears full-back Rich Lane illegally knocked the ball out of play, which resulted in a yellow card for Lane and a penalty try to bring up a try bonus point for the Bulls.

There was still time in the first half for Heward to chase and gather a kick in behind to claim his hat-trick and make it 47-28 at the break.

Bulls centre David Kriel scored four minutes into the second half to reduce the gap to 12 but Rubiolo replied for Bristol after Bulls full-back Le Roux was yellow-carded for slowing the ball down while defending his line.

Bulls: Le Roux; de Klerk, Kriel, Vorster, Jacobs; Pollard, Papier; Wessels, Grobbelaar, Louw, Wiese, Nortje (capt), Van Staden, Louw, Rudolph.

Replacements: Van der Merwe, Steenekamp, Smith, Vermaak, Gumede, Burger, Gans, Petersen.

Yellow card: Le Roux (56)

Bristol: Lane; Heward, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ravouvou; Jordan, Marmion; Lahiff, Oghre, Kloska, Rubiolo, Batley, S Grondona, Harding (capt), Mata.

Replacements: Thacker, Genge, Halliwell, Owen, B Grondona, Randall, Worsley, Moroni.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

Assistant referees: Jeremy Rozier (Fra), Benjamin Hernandez (Fra)

With Signe Gaupset in contention to make her debut this weekend, Tottenham Hotspur fans may finally see what all the hype is about.

The Norway midfielder has joined from Brann and manager Martin Ho confirmed she is ready to face Leicester City in the Women’s Super League on Sunday (12:00 GMT).

Widely regarded as one of the world’s best young talents, the 20-year-old was lured to Spurs by former Brann boss Ho with a deal agreed in November.

Gaupset clearly made an impression on Ho because he continued to monitor her performances and progress when he left the Toppserien in July to take up his current role.

She was named Toppserien Player of the Season for her 15 goals and 14 assists across 26 league games in 2024-25 and has seven goals in 14 appearances for her country, so it was no wonder Tottenham made her a priority signing this winter.

Gaupset also caught the eye of Lyon and Real Madrid after standout performances for Norway at Euro 2025 – a year after breaking into the senior national team.

Amid plenty of interest from other clubs, Tottenham moved early in submitting a request to speak to Gaupset – and it took just one conversation with Ho to convince her to sign a long-term contract.

“She has settled in really well,” Ho told BBC Sport. “She is training really well and she has settled in with the players on the pitch. That is where she comes into her own a little bit, she is more relaxed there.

“You can see the level of quality she possesses on the pitch, but away from the pitch she just needs to settle into the new environment and the new culture.”

Gaupset is the definition of a versatile creative player. She features most frequently in central midfield, either as an eight or a 10, but can also operate on both wings.

The Molde academy graduate is capable of influencing play at both ends of the pitch, with Ho highlighting her ability to “break the lines” and “go box-to-box really well”.

“She played as an eight or a 10 when I was at Brann,” he said. “That was depending on how we set up, but longer term I think she will be more of an eight because of her power, speed and ability to carry the ball.”

In addition, club sources say Gaupset is a highly intelligent 20-year-old, who has a different mindset to most young players and takes all aspects of football seriously, including her nutrition, recovery and sleep.

European Challenge Cup

Newcastle Red Bulls (14) 26

Tries: Wade, Arnold, Obatoyinbo, McGuigan Cons: Grayson 3

Perpignan (12) 19

Christian Wade scored his first try for Newcastle Red Bulls to help his new side qualify for the European Challenge Cup knockout stages with a thrilling victory over Perpignan at Kingston Park.

Peceli Yato powered over from close range to put the French side ahead but Newcastle hit back in style, Wade touching down after showing his pace and strength to beat three men, and Sammy Arnold rounding off a lovely move with a fine finish of his own.

Maxim Granell’s try, with Newcastle temporarily down to 14 men, ensured the lead was cut to 14-12 at the break, but the hosts maintained their intensity to move into the last 16 with one game to spare.

Newcastle have now won three games out of three on their European venture and can make the trip to face Welsh side Dragons in their final fixture without needing to win to progress.

A slow start put that scenario in doubt, with both sides looking nervy and guilty of some slack handling.

But the visitors settled first and led when they kept the pressure on the Newcastle defence and the brute force of Yato got him over from close range.

The sheer physicality of Perpignan threatened to overpower Newcastle but two brilliant tries in three minutes flipped the game with, first, Wade showing all his quality to hold off an initial tackle, elude two more would-be tacklers and cross near the posts.

Arnold’s superb run and score after a sensational Oscar Usher offload established a 14-5 lead.

And although Perpignan scored the next try – when Ethan Grayson was yellow-carded – and the last try of the game through Granell, the home side’s quality with ball in hand, the kicking of Grayson and resolute defence saw them through.

Newcastle Red Bulls: Obatoyinbo, Wade, Hearle, Arnold, Spencer, Grayson, Cruz; McCallum, McGuigan, Palframan, Cardall, de Chaves, Usher, Christie, Gordon.

Replacements: Fletcher, Brocklebank, de Bruin, Baker, Neild, Elliott, Hutchison, Greenwood.

Sin-bin: Grayson (31)

Perpignan: Dubois, Petaia, Poulet, Paia’aua, Granell, Reus, Ecochard; Devaux, Montgaillard, Ceccarelli, Yato, Warion, Chinarro, Diaby, Velarte.

Replacements: Lotrian, Gallardo, Roelofse, Tuilagi, Tanguy, Dvali, Aprasidze, Kretchmann.

Sin-bin: Petaia (59)