Macclesfield bowed out of the FA Cup as a Sam Heathcote own-goal earned Brentford a place in the quarter-final where they will face West Ham

Macclesfield’s historic FA Cup run came to an agonising conclusion as Brentford overcame the giant-killers 1-0.

The Bees avoided becoming the latest Premier League scalp at the hands of John Rooney’s side with Keith Andrews’ side scraping past the National League North side thanks to a Sam Heathcote own-goal.

The Irishman emphasised that they would not be underestimating the sixth-tier side but team selection didn’t quite back that up with their two top scorers, Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade, left out of the squad while club-record signing Dango Ouattara named on the bench.

Eleven years and seven months separated their League Two meeting and the day Macclesfield were wound up in the High Court. The two sides locked horns after enduring contrasting fortunes. Brentford made history by earning promotion to England’s top-table for the very first time.

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Equipped with their tin-foil FA Cup trophies, half-and-half and newly-established bloodied head bandages from Paul Dawson’s heroics in January.

A walk in the park it was not. Brentford’s preparations saw them play on artificial pitches but it didn’t stop them struggling in the early exchanges. A string of misplaced passes from full-back Michael Kayode set the tone and it gave the underdogs a sense of impetus as they smelt trepidation for the visitors. Luke Duffy, a live-wire down the right-wing, fizzed a stinging effort over the bar.

Captain Dawson immortalised himself in FA Cup and Silkmen folklore with his performance in the last round. He came agonisingly close to opening the scoring inside 20 minutes after Vitaly Janelt pockets were picked. The Macclesfield skipper marauded forward but could only drill his effort the wrong side of Hakon Valdimarsson’s right-hand post.

After a slow start, Brentford did put Max Dearnley’s goal under pressure.. Dawson handed the set-piece kings an opportunity to deliver and the non-leaguers survived after a goalmouth scramble.

The Silkmen shot-stopper was then forced into his first save when Aaron Hickey’s hard-work down the left fashioned Reiss Nelson an opportunity but the former Arsenal man could only sting the palms of the 27-year-old.

As the minutes clocked on, the part-timer’s legs began to fade and the Bees found the sting in their tail. With Macclesfield down to 10 men as Luke Matheson prepared to come on for Lewis Fensome, the hosts capitalised with 20 minutes on the clock when primary school teacher, Sam Heathcote headed into his own net.

Romelle Donovan should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later but could only blaze over. The 19-year-old tricked his way around the Silkmen defender but couldn’t rubber-stamp their place in the quarter-finals against West Ham in March.

At the other end, the visitors were almost forced to rue their wastefulness when former Manchester United academy product D’Mani Mellor was twice denied by some desperate defending from the hosts.

Macclesfield will be brought back down to earth after the dizzying high of their FA Cup fourth round tie, which is predicted to score the club £400,000, as they chase a fourth promotion since rising from the ashes.

Brentford qualify for the fifth round of the FA Cup for just the third time in their history, and their first since 1989, but they will breathe a huge sigh of relief after escaping another Macclesfield FA-Cup giant-killing.

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Manchester City advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon but the performance against League Two Salford City was below par

Manchester City had a week to remember leading up to their FA Cup fourth-round tie against Salford City this weekend. It started at Anfield, a bogey ground for so long and with 15 minutes of normal time remaining, it looked like it would remain that way too.

But City dug deep and found a way to win as Bernardo Silva’s instinctive finish and an Erling Haaland penalty saw the Blues beat Liverpool on Merseyside, with fans, for the first time under Pep Guardiola. City then took that momentum and carried it into Wednesday night when Fulham were brushed aside before half-time.

The mood only got lighter on Thursday when Arsenal dropped points at Brentford to ensure the gap was cut to four with the two teams still set to meet each other in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium in April. When Guardiola sat down for his pre-match press conference, he was understandably happy but he explained his team was mentally and physically tired.

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However, he also insisted the standards which they demand every day should not alter, regardless of the opposition. “I try to knuckle it in the minds of the players that nothing is taken for granted and everything is difficult,” Guardiola said.

After the full-time whistle, Guardiola was insistent on one thing. Those standards had not been reached. “The only good news [is] that we go through. That’s all,” the City boss insisted. “It would be nice for me to say mentally we’re exhausted, we’re tired. It has been a tough two or three weeks for many reasons but it’s our job.

“We have to do what we have to do. The calendar says to play every few days. We just didn’t read where the spaces were and that’s why everything was flat and slow and not good.”

Arguably it was only James Trafford who managed to come away with any form of credit having made a couple of good stops to avoid a potentially nervier afternoon. But while none of the outfield players came away with much credit, two have potentially missed a big chance to give Guardiola a headache as we head towards what will be a busy March.

The first was Tijjani Reijnders. In December and over the Christmas period, the Dutchman showed the sort of goalscoring form City were hoping he would bring when he arrived from AC Milan.

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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.

But, with a host of players who can play in the 4-1-4-1 formation behind the centre-forward, you need to stand out when you get your chance. Unfortunately for Reijnders, he was too casual with the ball and he often saw the game breakdown when he chose the wrong option.

Where Reijnders can be forgiven is that he is still settling into English football, in his first season at a new club. Inconsistent performances can be expected.

More concerning, though, was Phil Foden’s display. City’s academy graduate was burnt out last season after a summer international tournament and there was signs earlier in the season, the midfielder could be returning to the lofty standards he sets himself.

However, the 25-year-old has not scored since December and his displays are more reminiscent of the Foden of 2024/25 rather than 2023/24. On Foden, Guardiola said after Salford: “I said many times, I have zero, zero, zero doubts, zero about Phil.

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“He has to recover himself good and just focus on playing football and going to fish. He loves fishing and that’s it.

“When he is that, Phil is back and will be back. It’s not 20 centuries ago when he was the best player in the Premier League. It was around the corner. It was not many seasons ago.”

But while Guardiola does not doubt Foden, it is hard to see a scenario where he starts against Newcastle United next weekend. Bernardo, Rayan Cherki and perhaps even Nico O’Reilly are ahead of both him and Reijnders at the moment.

Against Salford, those who do not play often had the chance to make a point to Guardiola. Especially the likes of Reijnders and Foden who provide an option in an area where the Blues are so well stocked.

Now they must wait for their next chance having missed a golden opportunity to give Guardiola something to think about.

Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer were left stunned by a decision during Newcastle’s win at Aston Villa on Saturday, with the former claiming it was one of the worst he has ever seen.

It was a chaotic FA Cup contest at Villa Park, where the home side took the lead through Tammy Abraham on 14 minutes before shooting themselves in the foot.

Goalkeeper Marco Bizot made the wild decision to sprint out of his goal and take out Jacob Murphy on the counter-attack, earning himself a straight red card just before half-time.

Newcastle made the most of the advantage, with two goals from Sandro Tonali and a third from Nick Woltemade giving them a 3-1 win and put them into the hat for the fifth round draw.

Eddie Howe’s men may have thought it wasn’t going to be their day when one decision went against them at 1-0 down, though, which the officials got badly wrong.

Kieran Trippier put in a cross from the right which Villa defender Lucas Digne handballed.

The officials spotted the infringement, but despite the Frenchman standing well inside the penalty area and never leaving it, they gave a free-kick instead of a penalty.

Newcastle actually went on to score from the free-kick, so it did not cost them, but it was a bizarre mistake, which neither Rooney nor Shearer could believe a top level referee would make.

‘I think you can be critical of officials or you can praise them, either way,’ Rooney said on the BBC. ‘But that decision is one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in football. At no stage was Digne out the penalty box, I think he’s three or four yards inside the penalty box!

‘The linesman is just in front of us and you can clearly see how much he is in the penalty box.

‘The referee looked like he blew and it looked like he was listening to someone in his ear, so I’m assuming the linesman has give that decision and it’s an absolute shocker.’

Shearer feels it is a sign of the times, with referees and their assistants so used to being able to rely on VAR that they are now lost without it.

There was no VAR in the FA Cup tie as it was before the fifth round and the lack of support left the officials looking foolish.

‘There’s perhaps a small excuse for the referee to not see this, and I’m being kind to him, but there is no excuse whatsoever for the assistant, who is 10-15 yards away,’ said Shearer. ‘Nick Greenhalgh, who had an absolute nightmare today. He’s 15 yards away from that, goodness me.

‘If you ever needed any evidence of the damage VAR has done to the referees, I think today is a great example of that. These guys look petrified to make a decision today because they didn’t have a comfort blanket. That’s the damage its done to the officials.

‘For me, they’re actually getting worse. I really don’t think that’s a difficult decision at all, in fact it’s easy. At this standard, that has to be given. There’s no excuse for the assistant not to tell his referee, he’s got that totally wrong.’

It was not the only error of the game as Abraham’s opener was offside and Newcastle boss Howe agrees with Shearer that officials rely too much on technology.

‘I think there’s an argument to say that, because when VAR is there, there’s always a, ‘Well, I won’t give that, but let’s check it’,’ he said.

‘And I think then your decision-making maybe isn’t as sharp as it may normally have to be, so maybe there’s a difference there.

‘I’m always torn on VAR. I said this many times because I still love the emotion, even tonight, when a goal is given and you don’t see a flag or a referee, it’s a goal, and no one’s going to take it away from you.

‘That joy that you get in that moment, I still really love and VAR takes it away. But then on the other side, I was wishing there was VAR on the first goal against us, and probably throughout that game.’

MORE: Arsenal vs Wigan: Predicted FA Cup lineup today and confirmed team news

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By WILL GRIFFEE

Published: 07:38 EST, 14 February 2026 | Updated: 07:57 EST, 14 February 2026

West Ham fans staged a plane protest against their owners during live coverage of their FA Cup clash with Burton Albion. 

The game, televised live on TNT Sports, was used as an opportunity for the beleaguered Hammers supporters to air their grievances, with the club currently locked in a relegation battle. 

Early in the game, a plane with a banner reading ‘Sullivan & Brady out – no more BS!’ was seen above Pirelli Stadium. 

And fans inside the ground played their part too, holding up red cards with ‘No more BS’, written on them. 

On the live coverage, the commentator said: ‘Now were were told to expect there would be a plane going over the stadium, a peaceful and special protest had been promised by West Ham supporters.’

On BBC Radio Five Live, former West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green said: ”The [West Ham] owners have banned banners inside the London Stadium so you are not allowed to voice your protests in terms of signage or anything like that at the ground. The fans have been innovative.

A hole in the net, and a peaceful protest banner in the sky…

An interesting start to proceedings between Burton and West Ham 😅 pic.twitter.com/8AZripZWYd

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 14, 2026

A banner protesting the West Ham ownership was seen flying above the ground 

‘Their concerns are still going on but what they can do is support the team on the pitch and they have good reason at the minute because they have good momentum.’

More to follow…  

Manchester City welcome League Two Salford City to the Etihad Stadium for the second time in as many seasons on Saturday afternoon

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola insisted he has drilled into his team that no game is easy and that everything they want to achieve is difficult to accomplish. However, City fans will be hopeful their side can progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup when they take on League Two Salford City this afternoon.

The Blues have only faced the Ammies once and that was last season when they squared off in the third round of this competition. Guardiola’s men were 8-0 winners that day and after a 10-1 victory over Exeter City last month, City will be confident they can produce an equally comfortable scoreline.

Guardiola also admitted in his press conference his team were exhausted after a gruelling schedule in recent weeks. Therefore, it is almost guaranteed we will see wholesale changes to the starting line-up which beat Fulham on Wednesday night.

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James Trafford will start in goal and City lose no quality with that selection. Only arguably the world’s best goalkeeper is preventing Trafford from playing more for the Blues and Guardiola will have no qualms starting him in the FA Cup after his recent performances vs Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.

In defence, Rico Lewis has struggled for games this season as Matheus Nunes impresses at right-back. He started in the last round and could do so again, as could Max Alleyne who has lost his place to the brilliant Marc Guehi in recent matches.

John Stones returned to the bench on Wednesday and Guardiola will assess whether he can start in the build-up to kick off. Even if he plays a half, it will be a good first step as he looks to recover.

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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.

Rodri could have a rest enforced on him next week after being charged by the FA due to his comments about officials following the game at Tottenham. Despite this, City will probably stick with the plan of starting Nico Gonzalez, especially if he needs to get back up to speed should he be needed to replace his fellow countryman.

Phil Foden has not played often but having started in midweek, he could be rested to allow Ryan McAidoo to start on the right. He was good against Exeter and deserved his goal so giving him another shot at first-team football would be deserved.

Erling Haaland’s injury scare on Wednesday should be enough to ensure he does not feature against Salford. Omar Marmoush is the most likely candidate to replace him.

City’s predicted line-up vs Salford: Trafford; Lewis, Stones, Alleyne, Ait-Nouri; Gonzalez; McAidoo, Cherki, Reijnders, Semenyo; Marmoush

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