Hosts hang on for share of the spoils

CHESHIRE FOOTBALL LEAGUE 1 FC ST HELENS ............. 1 AFC MACCLESFIELD .1

AFC Macclesfield were disappointed not to come away with all three points after they were held to a draw at FC St Helens.

The first half was slow and tight with both teams clearly not wanting to give anything away.

Macclesfield had the only real scoring opportunity when Jack Disney weaved his way through the St Helens defence and struck the ball past the keeper, but it hit a post and the game remained 0-0 at half time.

The second half was much livelier and both teams really picked up the pace.

Jay Burgess started to take control and his relentless pressure on the St Helens defence allowed players around him to find space but the final bit of composure or quality was lacking.

With 65 minutes on the clock, Macclesfield had a corner which was cleared by the St Helens defence and the long ball beat the Macclesfield defence and it fell into the path of the opposition striker, he let fly and left Dom Chell in the Macclesfield goal with no chance to make it 1-0 to St Helens.

Macclesfield piled on the pressure and kept trying to unlock their opposition’s defence and with 10 minutes left on the clock, Greg Mathers let fly but was denied by the St Helens goalkeeper who couldn’t hold on to the ball.

Jonny Cavanagh was the quickest to react and smashed the rebound into the top corner to level things up.

Macclesfield continued to press for the winner.

Jack Banister was denied by the bar and skipper Mathers had the opportunity to win it at the death when he rounded the keeper but the St Helens defender got back and superbly cleared the ball off the goal line, meaning the game finished 1-1.

AFC Macclesfield’s reserve side were victorious though after a 4-3 win over Poynton Reserves in the Reserve Challenge Cup.

Poynton took the lead early on and had the better of the game, but Macclesfield eventually took control of the match and got their rewards with a great finish from in-form forward Nathan Jackson.

Macclesfield Reserves continued to dictate play, but a Poynton counter attack resulted in them taking a 2-1 lead into half time.

In the second half Macc started brightly and soon got level when Charlie Fletcher tapped in from a goal mouth scramble.

Macclesfield continued to put the pressure on, forcing the Poynton keeper to make a number of quality saves that kept the score as it was.

Finally Macc Reserves got the goal they deserved after Lee McIntyre dribbled through the Poynton defence and poked the ball through the oncoming goalkeeper’s legs.

Poynton looked to get back into the game and won a corner, and with the clock ticking, they threw extra men forward.

Macclesfield goalkeeper Elliott Simpson caught the ball comfortably and then immediately released a great long ball to capitalise on a number of Poynton players being out of position.

The Poynton goalkeeper came charging out to deal with the danger but was deceived by the bounce which allowed Connor Moran to run on beyond and calmly place the ball into the back of the net to make it 4-2.

Poynton got a consolation goal in the last minute, but Macc held on to pick up a well-deserved 4-3 victory.