Brentford host National League North side Macclesfield in Monday’s FA Cup fourth round tie at the Leasing.com Stadium (kick-off 7:30pm), live on TNT Sports.
In the previous round, the sixth-tier side knocked out current champions Crystal Palace in one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history. The Bees defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Hillsborough Stadium.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here’s everything you need to know before the game.
Pre-match analysis
Stephen Gillett, playmaker stats: What Brentford can learn from Macclesfield’s previous giant-kill
Brentford travel to Macclesfield this Monday with one clear objective: to avoid becoming the latest scalp of the FA Cup’s greatest killer.
The National League North side knocked out current champions Crystal Palace in January in the biggest upset in league history in terms of league standings, with the Silkmen starting that day 117 places below Palace in the English football pyramid.
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Captain Paul Dawson’s towering header put Macclesfield ahead in the first half and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts doubled the lead after the break to further shock the defending champions. Jeremiah Pinault’s free-kick in stoppage time brought the game to a tense conclusion but the Silks held on to seal a landmark victory, with Macclesfield becoming the first non-league side to knock out the reigning FA Cup champions since the 1908/09 season.
Brentford are seventh in their respective divisions and Macclesfield are sixth, with 122 places currently separating the two teams, but the Bees would be wise to view Macclesfield’s resounding success against Crystal Palace as a case study rather than a fairy tale.
A combination of factors helped John Rooney’s side outplay the Eagles’ flanks, and Brentford can learn a lot from Macclesfield’s excellent performance in January (as well as the areas where their Premier League opponents did less well).
Macclesfield’s numbers against Crystal Palace suggest their bold approach paid off in a big way. The Silkmen had 13 shots to Crystal Palace’s 12, and they were willing to shoot from all angles, with nine of those shots coming from outside the penalty area.
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Macclesfield were also tenacious at home in Mos Rose, their competitive edge perhaps surprising Premier League sides who had hoped for a less intense fixture away from the rigors of the top flight. Captain Dawson embodied that spirit in midfield as he won 15 of 30 tackle attempts and became the first non-league player to score against the defending champions since Farnborough Town’s Rocky Baptiste against Arsenal in 2003.
Macclesfield boss Rooney, the brother of former Manchester United and England striker Wayne, has been linked with top flight football, but so has 21-year-old defender Louis Lacey, the brother of Red Devils academy starlet Shay Lacey.
Lacey provided valuable attacking opportunities for the Silks against Crystal Palace, completing the most dribbles of any player on the field while also completing long-distance passes well, including three accurate long passes.
There is no doubt that Macclesfield did a lot of things right against Crystal Palace, but the defending FA Cup champions also contributed to their own defeat.
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Despite having 71% of the ball, the Premier League team gave encouragement to the hosts on many occasions. England internationals Adam Wharton (24) and Marc Guehi (21) conceded 45 times between them, and Brentford should try to avoid the low-level mistakes that excited the crowd on Monday.
The Palace dominated territory but failed to translate that control into a real threat. In the third round, the Eagles had just four shots on target (including their own goal) and won just three corner kicks at Moss Rose, resulting in an expected goals ratio of just 0.09.
In this regard, Brentford head coach Keith Andrews will likely look to maximize his side’s advantage on the dead ball side. The Bees have converted 38% of their set-pieces this season and will likely be happy if the pass is correct.
Macclesfield have shown that the magic of the cup is still strong, while Brentford will need to seize the moment and exploit their opponents’ strengths to progress to the last 16.
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reconnaissance report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: Macclesfield’s remarkable rise
Macclesfield Football Club will turn six in October – and it’s worth watching the first five years.
The club was founded by Rob Smethurst and Robbie Savage as Macclesfield Town’s Phoenix Club, which disbanded in September 2020 after 152 years of existence.
In the 2021/22 season, they won the North West Counties Football League Premier League Championship. In the 2022/23 season, they won the Northern Premier League La Liga title. In the 2023/24 season, they finished second in the Northern Premier League, but in the 2024/25 season, they also won the championship, an astonishing 32 points more than the previous year.
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Savage is the latter’s head coach and, although his stock is high as a result, at the time of the interview BBC Radio Manchester Shortly after winning the title, Savage said: “This is my club and you rarely get to manage your club because you and your best friend built it from the first brick, so for me to leave, it’s going to be a big price to pay. If they gave me the job now, I wouldn’t go to a club in the first and second divisions because I can’t see the journey or the project.”
But on 1 July 2025, he did leave to take over as manager of National League side Forest Green Rovers, replacing Steve Cotterill, who failed to secure a return to the EFL when first asked.
Former player John Rooney announced his retirement at the end of the 2024/25 season, but was quickly announced as his successor. “There is no doubt that John is fully committed to the club’s journey on an emotional level and we have every confidence that he will be able to continue our upward trajectory in the EFL,” the club said in a statement following the announcement.
For Rooney, it was an introduction to management. Macclesfield have played 28 games in the league and sit sixth in the National League North table. They are 19 points behind current leaders South Shields but, crucially, they have four games ahead of the teams around them. They also reached the fifth round of the FA Cup.
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But the most incredible moment of the season, the club’s brief history and arguably the rich history of the FA Cup took place just over a month ago on January 10, when they beat Crystal Palace.
It’s also a poignant result considering that less than four weeks ago, 21-year-old forward Ethan McLeod tragically passed away.
The story of Macclesfield already contains enough chapters for a lifetime, but it feels like the story is still in its infancy. Six years after the reform, the club is no longer defined by their origins, but by what they do next.
in the air raid shelter
John Rooney
John Rooney joined Everton in 1996, joining his brother, Manchester United and England legend Wayne. Wayne was promoted to the first team in 2002, the same year John Rooney was released.
He joined Macclesfield Town’s youth teams and made 46 first-team appearances before leaving in the summer of 2010. The midfielder then crossed the Atlantic, joining first the New York Red Bulls (where he was a team-mate of Thierry Henry) and then Orlando City.
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However, Rooney made just 17 appearances in those two periods before returning to England. After spells at Barnsley and Bury, he joined fifth-tier side Chester where he spent three seasons, scoring 26 goals and 24 assists in 115 games. Two more seasons in the National League followed, one at Wrexham and the other at Guiseley after an initial loan spell.
He then headed to Barrow in 2018 and helped the club make its long-awaited return to the EFL in his second season, becoming the division’s fifth-highest scorer with 17 points as the Bluebirds advanced to the Championship with an average of 1.89 points per game in a season shortened prematurely by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rooney spent a season and a half at Stockport before being promoted to the Second Division again with Barrow until the 2021/22 season. However, his second spell lasted less than nine months before he joined Oldham Athletic in September 2022 on a two-year deal. He left Latic after one season, signing for Macclesfield Town in August 2023, returning to the town after an absence of 13 years – albeit at a newly formed club.
He helped the Silks win the Northern Premier League Premier League title in the 2024/25 season before retiring at the age of 34. A few weeks later he was appointed as Macclesfield’s new manager, taking on a non-playing role for the first time following the departure of Robbie Savage.
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game plan
With local Macclesfield journalist Matt Hancock Bruce
Local journalist Matt Hancock-Bruce, who covers Macclesfield, explains how John Rooney is likely to set out his side on Monday night.
“It’s going to be harder to predict than usual because they’re playing a Premier League team that can’t be expected to play in a normal way,” he told brentfordfc.com earlier this week.
“Macclesfield’s usual formation is either a 4-3-3 or a 4-1-4-1, with a slight fluctuation in between, but their lineup is pretty consistent.
“The word I would use to describe how they are going to proceed is ‘intensity’ and that was clear from the Crystal Palace game when it took about four seconds for the captain to head a ball in which meant he had to wear the iconic headband for the rest of the game! It symbolizes their attitude in the game and I don’t think it will be any different against Brentford.
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“The same goes for set pieces. The first goal against Crystal Palace came from a set piece and I think they will try to use it again, although it may be a challenge because everyone knows how good Brentford are in that part of the game.”
match official
England to referee Silk Man tour
referee: Darren England
assistant: Scott Ledger and Akil Howson
Fourth Official: Tom Nield
Darren England will take charge of Monday’s FA Cup fourth round clash with Macclesfield Town.
The Yorkshire-born official has refereed Brentford more times than any other club team in his career, with the game at the Leasing.com Stadium the 22nd Bees game he has whistled.
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The 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Gtech Community Stadium in October was one of 18 games he will oversee across all competitions in 2025/26, with England having been shown 68 yellow cards and two red cards so far this season.
VAR will not be used.
last round
Sheffield Wednesday 0 Brentford 2, (FA Cup, January 10, 2026)
Brentford advanced to the fourth round of the FA Cup with an easy 2-0 victory over Championship team Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough Stadium.
Reiss Nelson and Kean-Lewis Porter were both denied by the woodwork, with the latter scoring from Matthias Jensen’s free kick.
After Romell Donovan was brought down in the penalty area midway through the second half, Jensen took a penalty kick to seal the result.
