Festive fixtures are key

MACC goalkeeper Shwan Jalal believes the fixtures over Christmas could make or break his team’s season.

The Silkmen currently sit seventh in the National League table after winning 12 matches so far, leaving them two points outside the play-off places.

Jalal has kept two clean sheets in his last two matches at the Moss Rose, and he has urged the side to keep up their fine form.

“The Christmas period is very important and we need to keep this run going,” he said.

“If we can pick up a few weeks over these next couple of weeks then it will bode really well for us during the second half of the season.”

Injuries to the Macclesfield team this season means Jalal has had a number of different players in the defence in front of him. The 32-year-old insists that hasn’t been a problem though.

“The lads have been playing really well and it’s meant we have kept some clean sheets, and obviously the more clean sheets the better,” he said.

“The guys in front of me are my main concern but our strikers up top have gone and down their business well this season too. We have a great squad here and everybody can come in a do a good job, like we saw when David Pilkington got injured.

“Neill Byrne came back in and did a good job and I think the shirt is his to lose at the moment.”