January 10 2026

Macclesfield 2-1 Palace

Crystal Palace were knocked out of the FA Cup after a 2-1 loss at non-league Macclesfield.

This wasn’t a smash-and-grab. It was deserved. The holders of the FA Cup just got kicked out at the first hurdle by a side ranked 117 places below them, and somehow the most shocking part is that it didn’t even feel like a shock once the game unfolded.

Palace had the ball. Palace had the badge. Palace had the money, the fitness staff, the analysts, and the Premier League careers. Macclesfield had hunger, organisation, and a clear idea: get in faces, win second balls, and make our possession look like a training drill with no end product. They didn’t just believe they could beat us – they played like they expected to.

We started with plenty of possession and absolutely no punch. The shape looked fine until you realised it was all sideways reassurance and zero threat. The one big first-half moment we did carve out summed up the night perfectly: 16-year-old Joel Drakes-Thomas peeled away and should have met Kaden Rodney’s brilliant cross, but didn’t connect. That was the chance to settle the nerves, to put the tie where it belonged. We fluffed it, and from there Macclesfield grew taller with every minute.

Then came the moment they’ll replay forever. Luke Duffy swung in a quality ball and their captain, Paul Dawson, rose highest to bury a header into the far corner. A set-piece goal conceded again – the same familiar soft underbelly. It’s not bad luck anymore; it’s a habit. When you’ve already conceded 13 of 23 league goals from set pieces this season, you don’t get to act surprised when a non-league side targets the exact weakness you keep refusing to fix.

Half-time arrived with the home end rocking and Palace looking like a team waiting for something to happen rather than forcing it. Oliver Glasner reacted by sending on Tyrick Mitchell, Johnson and Will Hughes to start the second half – an admission that the youthful gamble wasn’t working. But the problem wasn’t age. It was attitude and authority. Even with experience added, we still looked rattled, passive, and strangely fragile for a team that’s supposedly “cup hardened” after last season.

Macclesfield smelled it. They didn’t retreat into heroics; they went for the throat. The second goal wasn’t a wonder strike or a freak deflection – it was the kind of goal you concede when you’re half-switched off and second to the loose ball. A deflected shot dropped kindly, Isaac Buckley-Ricketts reacted quicker than every Palace defender in the vicinity, and prodded it in. 2-0. Five divisions below, and they looked sharper, braver, and more committed.

And here’s the killer: even at 2-0 down, it still didn’t feel like Palace were about to respond. Possession without purpose. Attacks that died with one rushed pass or one timid run. Players receiving the ball like they didn’t want it. No leader grabbing the game by the collar. No on-pitch voice dragging standards up when embarrassment was staring everyone in the face.

We only woke up when it was basically over. Yeremy Pino gave us a lifeline with a superb free-kick in stoppage time, curling it over the wall and under the bar to make it 2-1 and briefly inject panic into the home side. But it was the wrong kind of “fight” – too late, too little, and mostly fuelled by desperation rather than quality. Macclesfield, to their credit, held on with the composure we never showed at 0-0.

The numbers tell the same story as the eye test: Macclesfield finished with more shots. Let that land. The FA Cup holders, against National League North opposition, couldn’t even win the shot count. That isn’t a bad day at the office. That’s a complete failure of performance and mentality.

This now makes it nine without a win, and it’s the most disgusting result of the lot. Palace haven’t won in any competition since 11 December, but this is the one that stains. You can excuse losing to good Premier League sides when form is poor. You cannot excuse being outfought, outthought and outplayed by a team five divisions below you when you had enough Premier League experience on the pitch and on the bench to handle it properly.

Glasner took a risk with the starting XI. Fine. Cup rotation happens. Youth development matters. But rotation doesn’t mean surrendering basic standards: intensity, leadership, set-piece concentration, and actual chance creation. Those aren’t optional extras. Those are the minimum.

Macclesfield earned a night they’ll remember forever. Palace earned a humiliation that should trigger a serious response – because if this group can’t find pride in defending a trophy, what exactly are they finding pride in right now?

Palace: Benítez, Canvot (Mitchell 45), Guehi, Richards, Sosa, Rodney (Hughes 45), Wharton, Devenny (Casey 69), Pino, Drakes-Thomas (Johnson 45), Uche.

Not used: Henderson, Lacroix, King, Benamar, Marsh.

Macclesfield: Dearnley, Fensome, Menayese, Dawson, Buckley-Ricketts, Mellor (Whitehead 95), Heathcote, Lacey (Borthwick-Jackson 79), Kay (Dos Santos 80), Edmonson, Duffy (Matheson 79)

Not used: Callister, Griffiths, Elliott, Woltman, Stone.