Macc stand up
LINCOLN City were crowed National League champions after a victory over Macclesfield Town on Saturday.
Macc initially led after Mitch Hancox’s strike, but two goals from Terry Hawkridge saw Lincoln turn things around and clinch the title in front of over 10,000 fans at Sincil Bank.
While his side may have come up short, Macclesfield boss John Askey was fairly happy with what he saw from his players.
“Overall I was quite pleased with our performance. I thought there was very little in the game,” he said.
“The biggest danger they posed was when there were a lot of free kicks, but we had some decent chances.”
The Silkmen made a number of changes for the game, with Scott Flinders, Andy Halls and Ollie Norburn all starting.
It was a quiet start to the game, with Macclesfield’s first chance coming when Chris Holroyd fired a long-range volley well wide.
Flinders was then called into action with a quarter of an hour gone when Lee Angol struck a free-kick at goal, but it was easily saved by the Macc goalkeeper.
The Silkmen then made the breakthrough on 24 minutes after his dipping shot went over the lead of Paul Farman and into the back of the net to put the visitors in front.
They didn’t hold on to that lead for long though, as just a few moments later Lincoln were back on level terms.
Angol was causing problems for the opposition defence in the box and then saw a shot saved by Flinders, but he could only parry the effort into the path of Hawkridge, who slotted home to equalise.
It remained that way for the rest of the half, with neither side managing to add to their tally before the interval.
One incident did occur though, as Luke Summerfield received a yellow card for Macc on the stroke of half-time after committing a late challenge.
The second half began with Chris Holroyd joining Summerfield in the referee’s book within seconds of the restart after he was penalised for a foul.
The Silkmen were defending well as the match went on, making a number of impressive tackles and interceptions to prevent Lincoln from going ahead.
Askey’s side almost found another goal themselves when Holroyd’s acrobatic overhead kick looked to be flying into the net, but Farman made a superb save to deny him.
Macc went close again moments later when Hancox got on the end of a good cross from Halls, but once again Farman was on hand to make a good save and stop him getting his second goal of the afternoon.
That proved to be Hancox’s final action, as Askey turned to his substitute’s bench as he tried to help his team get another goal, bringing on Anthony Dudley in his place.
‘Overall I was pleased with the performance. I thought there was very little in the game’
Lincoln began to take over from that point onwards though, with the home side knowing a victory would secure them the title.
First Angol had a 20-yard effort fly over the