Chorley FC, a non-league club, continued its dream run through the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over EFL Championship (second tier) Derby County on Saturday. The team celebrated with a singalong of Adele’s “Someone Like You” in the locker room.
Derby County, which has been hit hard by Covid-19, didn’t field its strongest lineup on Saturday and paid the price with Chorley scoring through Connor Hall and Mike Calveley.
The victory, sending the sixth-tier side to the fourth round, was celebrated by what’s become a traditional singalong, made all the more moving by the impressive upset victory.
Here we go, then - @Adele pic.twitter.com/jPhuIvu6dZ
— Chorley FC (@chorleyfc) January 9, 2021
Song choice? Questionable.
Singing skills? Not great.
Passion? Undeniable.
“We just needed a song that was special to us that everybody knew; it happened to be that Adele song,” assistant manager Andy Preece said. “It’s just great to share something like that at the end of the game, great for camaraderie. You need that togetherness if you're going to win big games. When we got promoted, had big cups wins, it's always been that one.”'
Prior to this win, Chorley beat League One side Wigan and third-tier Peterborough in the earlier rounds of the FA Cup.
No matter the sport, there’s nothing that compares to the fun of a single-elimination tournament, from the FA Cup in England to the NCAA basketball tournament in the U.S. (Now if college football could just figure this out and institute a real playoff, or at least let someone other than crappy Notre Dame into the final four; and yes, I’m bitter as a Texas A&M graduate.)
Reuters contributed to this report.