AFC on the up after blitz of Halebank

CHESHIRE FL LEAGUE 1 AFC MACCLESFIELD ..... 8 HALEBANK ....................... 1

AFC Macclesfield moved up to third place in Cheshire Football League 1 after picking up an emphatic win over last year’s League 2 runners up Halebank FC.

With Macclesfield’s injury list starting to improve, the squad was strong and it showed, as within ten minutes, Macclesfield had scored three goals.

The game had been playing for only three minutes when Greg Mathers received the ball inside the opposition’s 18 yard box and he found Jord Gregory bursting from midfield, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the Halebank net.

The goal shook Halebank and soon after the restart, it was 2-0. Jack Banister played the ball from the left to find Jay Burgess on the edge of the box to side foot the ball into the back of the net.

Halebank couldn’t cope with Macclesfield’s pressure and Jord Gregory was back on the score sheet with an audacious chip from outside the box that beat the Halebank keeper and found the inside of the post.

Macclesfield were rampant. Jack Disney opened his account for the club when he found himself one on one with the onrushing Halebank goalkeeper. He kept his cool and sent him the wrong way.

With Macclesfield’s opposition deflated, Halebank knew it wasn’t going to be their day when a defensive clearance struck Jack Banister’s foot and the ball looped over the goalkeeper’s head to make the score 5-0.

After the half-time break, Macclesfield seemed content with their afternoons work and after some casual defending, conceded a free kick on the edge of their box.

Halebank’s Nick Ellis took the free kick which went through the Macclesfield wall and creeped past Dom Chell in the Macclesfield goal.

Macclesfield made some personnel changes and notably introduced new signing Sam Dickov who was making his first team debut at the age of just 17.

Dickov was soon involved in the action as a ball over the top was brought down by Dickov who outpaced the Halebank centre half, and a poor attempt for the ball resulted in the youngster being brought down and a penalty being awarded. Mathers stepped up but the Halebank keeper pulled off a fantastic save to keep the score 5-1

Both teams continued to press their opposition, but it was Macclesfield who added to their goal tally.

A free kick was awarded on the edge of the Halebank box after Jonny Cavanagh was brought down.

Disney stepped up and grabbed his second for the afternoon and his second for the club with a stunning strike to leave the keeper with no chance to make it 6-1.

In the 80th minute, Jay Burgess grabbed his second and Macclesfield’s seventh, with another superb strike from outside the box.

With four minutes left on the clock, Dickov received the ball on the right hand side and his cross found Banister who smashed the ball into the roof of the net, to make it 8-1.

It was a great afternoon’s football with Halebank unable to cope with Macclesfield’s pace and movement.

It was a disappointing day for AFC Macclesfield’s Reserves though after they lost 1-0 to Mersey Valley Reserves.

From the kick off Mersey Valley looked the brighter team, putting pressure on the AFC Macclesfield goal and they eventually got their rewards from a long throw into the box which caused confusion and allowed the central midfielder to head the ball into the net unchallenged.

In the second half, Macc reserves came out looking like a completely different team winning the first and second balls, and it felt it was only a matter of time before AFC got an equaliser and went on to win the game, but with 35 minutes of the game remaining, Macclesfield went down to 10 men after a red card.

That made their task difficult, and in the end they couldn’t find a goal and suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat.