Whitaker toasts landmark in style
DANNY Whitaker was glad to mark his 400th appearance for Macclesfield Town with a victory after the Silkmen ran out 2-1 winners at Guiseley last week.
The 36-year-old got one of the goals, while Elliott Durrell also scored late on to help their team earn all three points and move to the top of the National League table.
Whitaker felt it was a hard-fought win for his side, and he was happy his milestone game turned out to be a positive evening.
“First and foremost it was important to get the three points which we have done and then you can reflect on personal achievement and the milestone of getting to that amount of games is fantastic,” he told the club’s official website.
“We knew going into the match if we played our game we were more than confident of getting a result. We have done that and got three points and other results have gone our way.”
Whitaker also praised Durrell for managing to get the late winner that helped Macclesfield come out on top.
“He’s a fantastic player, he likes to get the ball in the box, he’s quick, dynamic and he’s chipping in with goals as well which is fantastic,” he said.
“We knew we would have to dig in at some stage because they are quite direct so it was important we dug in and did the ugly side of the game which we are more than capable of doing.”
Whitaker initially began his youth career with Manchester United before moving to Macclesfield, where he has had two separate spells with the club.
The first was from 2001 to 2006, when he then left for Port Vale.
Further spells at Oldham Athletic and Chesterfield followed, before he then returned to the Moss Rose in 2013.
Macc boss John Askey was delighted with his midfielder’s achievement, and has heaped praise on him for everything he has done at the club.
“It’s great for him. He’s a very good footballer and I think he should’ve played higher than he has,” Askey told the club’s official website.
“He’s a credit to himself, how he’s kept himself fit and his hunger. He’s that old that I played with him!
“If you come and watch the lads play you wouldn’t think he was the oldest man on the park, you’d think he was the fittest.
“He’s always been able to cruise through games since he was a young man and that’s because of the way that he lives and the way that he looks after himself. He loves playing and for any young lads in the team, they look up to Danny.”