The FA Cup first round proper is complete, with non-league sides Tamworth and Kettering claiming two of the biggest upsets as they knocked out Huddersfield and Northampton respectively.

There were some great goals scored over the round too – we have compiled a shortlist of 10 of the best and want you to vote for your favourite.

For the first time since the pair started sharing the Formula 1 grid, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly joined each other on the podium of a grand prix, capitalising on a bold strategy in a wet Interlagos classic to finish second and third behind the untouchable Max Verstappen.

It was a huge boost to Alpine, the team gaining three places in the constructors’ championship and finally getting a tangible reward for the hard work of its crew after a bruising season with the underperforming 2024 car.

The scintillating Sao Paulo classic was not just season-defining for Alpine: on a human level, it will also forever define Ocon’s and Gasly’s at times fraught relationship.

Growing up close to each other in eastern Normandy, Ocon and Gasly crossed paths as kids and became best friends, spending lots of time together racing go-karts.

As they moved up the ladder their relationship soured, seemingly beyond repair, and therefore Gasly joining Ocon as a team-mate at Alpine for 2023 raised some eyebrows in the paddock. Ocon admitted “we are never going to be best friends” at the time, while Gasly acknowledged his relationship would be vastly different to the one he enjoyed with Yuki Tsunoda before.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team, 2nd position, Pierre Gasly, Alpine F1 Team, 3rd position, celebrate in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Naturally there have been some flashpoints on track, just like Ocon had with some previous team-mates – Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez – and both drivers fought their corner hard over team strategy as you would expect any F1 racers to do.

In 2023 there was a collision in Melbourne, in their fourth race together, and this year the pair also came to blows when Ocon lunged down the inside of Gasly in Monaco, damaging both cars and angering both Gasly and Alpine’s management. Soon after Ocon announced his departure from the team, signing with Haas for 2025, which defused some of the tension but also seemed to acknowledge that Ocon’s arrival at the Enstone team hadn’t really worked out for either party.

But while the pair has always maintained they work well together off-track, it feels like their wholesome podium in Brazil has further thawed their once frosty relations. They didn’t just revel in their hard-earned success on the back of an abysmal year with Alpine, but the perilous wet race in Interlagos appeared to unlock a warm feeling of nostalgia to better days. A time when they were also racing at the front in fraught conditions, as 10-year-old prodigies of Normandy’s go-karting scene.

As the pair gave a joint interview in front of broadcaster Viaplay’s cameras, Ocon turned to his fellow Norman: “Do you remember when we were driving in Anneville in the rain?”, to which Gasly revealed their race had brought back the same memories.

“Yeah, even in the snow! We were driving in the snow and the rain. It’s the same as it was back in the day when we were the only ones showing up at the track in the rain, freezing cold. But it was all worth it.”

“It paid off today,” Ocon nodded after his car control in the Brazilian rain yielded him second. “When we did that formation and the in-lap, that was the first thing that came to my mind. What a beautiful story, that.”

Even back when Gasly joined Ocon at Alpine last year, the significance of their unlikely pairing was not lost on them. Two kids from the same part of France – Gasly from the Rouen area and Ocon from the nearby town of Evreux – both making it through the complicated journey to Formula 1 to end up as team-mates.

Now they have another fond memory to look back on after their careers, when perhaps their rivalry will be a relic of the past.

“This is the moment of a lifetime,” said Gasly. “As kids from where we came from, to end up as team-mates was already against all odds, but to end up on the same podium…

“Nobody knows our story, it’s something personal to us. But regardless of everything that happened, a day like today makes it very special.

“It’s a beautiful story.”

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A CHINESE snooker player who was involved in last year’s match-fixing storm will compete in UK Championship qualifying this month.

Zhao Xintong has the chance to scoop the £250,000 top prize after being announced as one of 16 elite amateurs to take part in the early rounds of the second-biggest event on the professional snooker calendar.

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Qualifying rounds take place in Leicester between November 16-21 and then the top 16 progress to the York Barbican where they could face the likes of reigning world champion Kyren Wilson, world No.1 Judd Trump and the sport’s greatest player, Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Should Xintong – winner of the UK Championship crown in 2021 – progress through four rounds of qualifiers at the Mattioli Arena, he will appear in the latter stages on BBC TV later this month.

Yet even though he has earned his spot by merit – he was triumphant in event three on the WPBSA Q Tour Europe – his involvement in such a prestigious tournament is a controversial one.

In June 2023, Xintong was one of ten Chinese players charged with match-fixing offences by an independent World Professional Billiards and Snooker association (WPBSA) disciplinary commission.

He was given a two-year and six-month suspension and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs.

This ban was reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty to one year and eight months – and that ban expired on September 2, 2024.

None of the other nine disgraced stars have served the full length of their suspensions.

According to the disciplinary commission, the former top-10 player accepted in March 2022 that “he was a party to another player fixing two snooker matches”.

And between September 1, 2019 and December 31, 2022, “he bet on snooker matches in breach of the rules”.

Xintong, 27, is no longer on the World Snooker Tour but has the chance to regain a Tour Card in Qualifying School in the summer of 2025.

Lifetime bans were slapped on ringleaders Liang Wenbo and Li Hang.

Xintong’s involvement in the investigation last year shocked many within the sport, especially given that he is someone well-respected for his talents.

O’Sullivan, the seven-time world champion, once tipped the cueist nicknamed the Cyclone for his rapid style of play to go on and become the “best player in the world”.

Speaking after Xintong crushed Luca Brecel 10-5 to lift the UK title three years ago, the Rocket said: “If he can stand up and show pressure, there is no player on the circuit that has the complete game like him.

“He is like Steve Davis but with Jimmy White’s talent. Very, very scary.”

James missed Wales’ opening Nations League games with Turkey and Montenegro in September and the trip to Iceland and home return against Montenegro last month with a hamstring injury.

He made his return for Leeds on 18 October and has started the Championship side’s past two fixtures, scoring in the 3-0 win over Plymouth last Saturday.

James’ Leeds team-mate Joe Rodon will earn his 50th cap for Wales if the defender plays in both games this month.

Colwill’s recall to the senior squad comes as he has been receiving rave reviews during Cardiff’s revival under interim boss Omer Riza this season.

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder – who featured in the 2022 World Cup – was not initially in Bellamy’s first Wales squad in September but was promoted from the under-21s as a late call-up.

However, he did not get any game time and reverted to Matty Jones’ under-21 squad for last month’s unsuccessful Euro 2025 qualifying climax.

Wales’ squad also includes Harry Wilson, who scored twice in stoppage time on Monday night as Fulham beat Brentford 2-1.

It was only a sixth appearance in the Premier League this season for 27-year-old Wilson – all as a substitute – as Bellamy has had to cope with a lack of domestic playing time for a number of his squad.

The former Wales captain has raised expectations with his unbeaten start as head coach following the sacking of Robert Page in the summer.

After a goalless draw at home to Turkey in the first game, he has enjoyed home and away wins against Montenegro and a 2-2 draw in Iceland.

While Bellamy’s side travel to Turkey with the prospect of winning the group still in their own hands, defeat would not end their hopes of a return to Nations League A division.

There is also a play-off route to promotion if they finish as runners-up, while finishing third would open up the prospect of a March play-off to avoid relegation.

FULHAM stars repeatedly slapped the head of a pitch-invading fan in wild celebrations after their incredible comeback win over Brentford.

The Cottagers were 1-0 down in their west London derby with just minutes remaining when Harry Wilson netted an extraordinary 92nd minute equaliser.

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Brentford were left shellshocked by Fulham’s late effort.

But the Bees were stung again when Wilson pounced with a 97th minute header to seal a 2-1 victory.

The Welshman’s brilliant brace sparked jubilant celebrations among the Craven Cottage faithful.

And one supporter got carried away as he left the stands for the pitch.

The fan immediately ran to Wilson before hugging him in delight.

Rodrigo Muniz and Tom Cairney also joined in the celebrations.

And the group toasted Wilson’s winner by hilariously repeatedly slapped the fan on the head.

The supporter appeared to love it though as he continued roaring with joy.

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But his party with the players was short-lived as security intervened.

They surrounded the man as Fulham’s stars broke away.

And he was quickly escorted back off the pitch to continue the fun elsewhere.

The win saw Fulham move up to ninth in the table, putting them two points ahead of 12th-place Brentford.