Silkmen return to
Guiseley 1-2 Macclesfield
GUISELEY ......................... 1 MACCLESFIELD .............. 2
MACCLESFIELD Town returned to winning ways after they picked up a win at bottom of the table Guiseley.
Two first half goals from Chris Holroyd and Ollie Norburn were enough to earn the Silkmen the victory at Nethermoor Park.
Macc were lively from the offset and almost took the lead when Jack Mackreth put a dangerous cross into the box, but no Silkmen player could get a touch on the ball that would have sent it into the net.
The Silkmen continued to dictate play and it seemed like a matter of time until they got the opening goal.
That proved to be the case when Holroyd struck on 14 minutes. He got onto the end of a long pass before chipping the ball over Jonny Maxted to hand his side the lead.
Guiseley were struggling to cope with the constant pressure that they were being put under and it didn’t take long for Macclesfield to double their lead.
Mitch Hancox had only been on the pitch a few minutes after he replaced David Fitzpatrick due to a facial injury, and the substitute made an immediate impact by playing a key part in the goal.
He picked up the ball on the left hand side before delivering an excellent cross towards the back post, where Norburn was on hand to volley home and make it 2-0 after 26 minutes.
After a slow start to the game, Guiseley finally began to come to life on the half hour mark, beginning when Scott Flinders made a good save on his Macclesfield debut to deny Alex Purver.
He couldn’t do anything to stop the hosts pulling one back on 35 minutes though, as Jordan Preston’s powerful effort flew past him and into the back of the net to make it 2-1 at the interval.
The Silkmen were the better team after the restart, beginning when Norburn almost scored against his former club, but Maxted made a good save to keep out the effort.
Danny Rowe was the next to go close, while Mackreth picked up where he left off in the first half by being a constant threat to the opposition defence.
Guiseley thought they had levelled things up on 70 minutes when Reece Web-Foster headed in Preston’s cross, but the linesman had already flagged for offside and ruled out the effort.
Macc were forced to defend for the closing stages of the game, with on-loan goalkeeper Flinders making several important saves to keep his team in front.
With Guiseley committing a lot of bodies forward, the Silkmen then almost got a third goal in stoppage time when Hancox broke clear, but his shot was scuffed wide.
It didn’t matter in the end, as Macclesfield managed to hold on to earn themselves a 2-1 victory away from home.
The win meant that John Askey’s side had won seven and lost four of their opening 11 games, ahead of their planned match against Wrexham on Tuesday as the Express went to press.
Flinders, Halls, Fitzpatrick (Hancox), Pilkington,
MACCLESFIELD:
McCombe, Mackreth, Holroyd (Sampson), Rowe, James, Norburn (Lewis), Whitaker. Subs Not Used: Ross, Byrne