Play-off dreams
MACCLESFIELD Town’s play-off hopes are over after suffering a disappointing home defeat to Solihull Moors on Easter Monday.
The Silkmen led 1-0 in the game thanks to a goal from Chris Holroyd, but George Carline, Jack Byrne and Regan CharlesCook netted for the visitors to earn a comeback win and end their sixgame losing streak.
It means Macc can’t earn promotion as they are now 10 points off the play-offs with just three games remaining, and assistant manager Steve Watson was disappointed with his side’s performance in the game.
“We created a lot of chances but their goalkeeper made a couple of good saves and we missed the target with a few, so we’re always giving them something to hang on to when it’s 1-0,” he said.
“They’ve scored two good headers but they are balls that we have to deal better with. Their last goal was then a sucker punch.
“We had the incident in the first half with our wrongly disallowed goal and we can’t blame it all on that one decision but it certainly would have changed the game.
“If we converted just half the chances that we created then we would have put them to bed, but when we don’t do that and you’re playing against a team fighting for their lives then there’s always a chance they come back.”
Solihull went close after just 30 seconds of the match when Omari Sterling-James had a shot, but he was denied by a good save from Macc goalkeeper Craig Ross.
The Silkmen’s first chance of the match then came on 15 minutes later when he tried his luck from distance, but his shot flew over the crossbar.
Macc began to have the better chances as the half progressed, with Chris Holroyd firing narrowly wide after good work in the build up from Danny Whitehead.
Neill Byrne was the next to try and break the deadlock when he got on the end of Whitehead’s corner, but his header was narrowly over the crossbar.
Controversy then struck just before the break when John McCombe appeared to bundle the ball into the net, but the officials judged that it hadn’t crossed the line, even though most people believed it had.
Despite the dispute, Macc finally made the breakthrough shortly after half-time when Holroyd headed home a cross from Whitehead to make it 1-0.
They went close to doubling their lead just before the hour mark when Rhys Browne found space, but he couldn’t get his effort on target.
It was the latest opportunity that went begging for Macc, and Solihull made the home side pay for their missed chances when Carline headed past Ross on 78 minutes.
Things soon went from bad to worse for Macclesfield as Solihull scored with another header moments later, with Byrne the man to get it on this occasion.
The Silkmen threw plenty of bodies forward in the closing stage as they tried to find an equaliser, but they were then caught on the break as Charles-Cook put the finishing touches on his team’s comeback win by slotting the ball into the back of the net to make
‘We’re always giving them something to hang on to when it’s 1-0’
it 3-1 in stoppage time.
That proved to be the final moment of the match, with Macc condemned to a home defeat at the Moss Rose.
Ross, Byrne (Halls 83’), McCombe, Whitehead (Summerfield 64’), Fitzpatrick, Browne, James, Hancox, Holroyd, Thorne ( Whitaker 54’). Subs not used: Norburn, Flinders, Whitaker
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