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8 min: Dawson’s head wound has opened up again and he needs a bit more treatment. It’s all been a bit stop-start so far.
7 min: The low winter sun is casting long shadows on the pitch, but not long enough for Macclesfield goalkeeper Max Dearnley, who has donned his cap.
5 min: Uche tumbles looking for a free-kick but nothing doing as far as the referee is concerned. You can really see the difference in the surface from the way the ball bounces – might take a bit of getting used to for the Palace players.
4 min: A first touch for Macclesfield goalkeeper Max Dearnley as Christantus Uche looks to pressure the home defence.
3 min: Both are patched up and OK to continue, as Palace get their collective foot on the ball for the first time.
1 min: Jaydee Canvot and Paul Dawson go up for a header as the ball is pumped towards the Palace box and there’s a brief delay as they both need treatment for a clash of heads.
Peep! After a brief delay to tidy up a cone left behind from the warm-up (!), Macclesfield get the game under way on the 4G surface.
Click-clack, click-clack … Out come the players into the Cheshire sunshine.
Oliver Glasner is having a brief pre-match chat with the BBC. “It’s clear that we’re here to win the game,” he says of his Palace lineup.
And here’s Macclesfield’s John Rooney:“Since the club reformed we’ve done well in the leagues, pushing up the football pyramid, but we’ve never really had that FA Cup run, and one thing we spoke about in the summer is can we give the fans something to cheer going into the FA Cup, and for us to get to the third round and get drawn against the holders, you can see what it means to them today.
“It’s such an exciting game for the whole club, it’s been hard keeping the players calm and keeping their feet on the ground and getting them ready.
The BBC’s Mark Chapman says it’s “bring a family member to work day” as Wayne Rooney stands next to his brother, Macclesfield boss John Rooney, for a pre-match chat on the pitch.
Dominic Booth is our reporter at Moss Rose today, and he’s been soaking in the pre-match atmosphere:
Macclesfield are ready for their day in the FA Cup third round sun, against the cup holders Crystal Palace, no less. Walking from the railway station to the modest surroundings of Moss Rose – now the Leasing.com stadium – before kick-off, there was a palpable buzz in the air. Fans have been buying match scarves in their hundreds, the bars and food kiosks are packed and TV trucks are packing the car park. This is Macclesfield’s first game against Premier League opposition since their rebirth in 2020. As a former EFL club, they used to be semi-regulars in the third round. These days, occasions like this are to be treasured and everyone is rightly making the most of it. That Palace have included three of their FA Cup winning lineup – Wharton, Guéhi and Richards – makes it all the more tantalising for the hosts.
Palace’s last game in the FA Cup? It was a doozy:
Once upon a time in third-round games, the state of the lower league/non-league pitch would be thought of as The Great Leveller. And you could hope to throw in a bit of January wind and rain. But the Moss Rose surface is in fine fettle and there’s barely a cloud in the Cheshire sky:
The lineups
Macclesfield: Dearnley, Fensome, Menayese, Dawson, Buckley-Ricketts, Mellor, Duffy, Heathecote, Lacey, Kay, Edmondson. Subs: Callister, Matheson, Griffiths, Elliott, Dos Santos, Whitehead, Woltman, Stone, Borthwick-Jackson.
Crystal Palace: Benítez, Canvot, Guéhi, Richards, Sosa, Rodney, Wharton, Devenny, Pino, Drakes-Thomas, Uche. Subs: Henderson, Mitchell, Lacroix, King, Benamar, Hughes, Marsh, Casey, Johnson.
Preamble
Hello all. FA Cup third-round Saturday kicks off with a proper bit of Cup romance – the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, Macclesfield from the National League North, where they sit 14th, sandwiched between Chester and Telford, against the holders, Premier League behemoths (in this context at least) Crystal Palace.
The Silkmen took Sheffield Wednesday to a replay on their last trip to the third round, in 2013-14, but they were a Conference side back then, only a year or two out of the Football League (and they’ve been wound up and phoenixed since then).
For the full back story, here’s Sam Dalling’s excellent piece from behind the scenes at Moss Rose:
