Silkmen hit for six at Fylde
MACCLESFIELD Town’s 11-match unbeaten run came crashing to an end after a hugely emphatic defeat away from home against AFC Fylde.
Two goals from Sam Finley, along with strikes from Lewis Montrose, Jack Muldoon, Jonny Smith and Andrew Bond saw the Silkmen suffer a surprisingly heavy loss.
It means that Macc’s lead at the top of the National League table has been cut to three points, but Fylde captain Sam Finley felt they had a perfect game plan to earn the win.
“It was brilliant. I thought everyone right across the pitch was brilliant.
“We wanted to press from the off and not give them any time in the first 20 minutes and we did that fantastically well,” said Fylde captain Finley.
“Macclesfield are a good side and top of the league for a reason. They like to play football, much like ourselves, but we didn’t let them do that. We worked hard for each other and got what we deserved.
“We thought they might come out after the break and try to get one back and we knew if we could weather any storm that they threw at us then we would be fine. We did that well, continued to play, got a couple more goals and killed the game off.
“To be honest, we never expected to win by six but it had been coming and we were going to punish someone. We have been playing well recently and winning by one or two and someone was going to get it. Unfortunately for Macclesfield, they were on the receiving end.”
It didn’t take Fylde long to take the lead in the match, as Montrose got on the end of a corner and headed home to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
Macc tried to get back on level terms, but their task was made harder when Fylde doubled their lead through Muldoon on 23 minutes.
His 25-yard effort flew past Macclesfield goalkeeper Sam Ramsbottom and into the back of the net to increase his side’s lead.
The Silkmen were struggling to cope with their opponents, and it went from bad to worse for John Askey’s side when Fylde got their third just after the half hour mark.
Finley’s long-range shot looked like it would be comfortably saved by Ramsbottom, but the ball slipped underneath his dive and ended up in the back of the net to pile more misery onto Macc.
Askey was furious with what he had seen so far and brought on Scott Wilson for Scott Burgess on 37 minutes, but the substitution didn’t help as Fylde grabbed their fourth on the stroke of half-time.
Smith managed to beat the offside trap before rounding Ramsbottom and slotting home in stoppage time to make it 4-0 at the break and inflict a miserable 45 minutes on Macclesfield.
Askey replaced Ramsbottom with Shwan Jalal at half-time, but Fylde didn’t take their foot off the gas and they got their fifth of the afternoon on 57 minutes.
Jalal was able to keep out an initial deflected effort from Smith, but the rebound fell to Finley who tapped into an empty net to grab his sec-
‘Someone was going to get it. Unfortunately for Macc, they were on the receiving end’
ond goal of the game.
Macclesfield had a couple of chances during the final half hour, but Fylde ended the Silkmen’s woeful day when they made it 6-0 through Bond in the 81st minute.
Fylde have moved up to ninth after the win, with Macclesfield now only three points clear of second-placed Aldershot and third-placed Sutton.
They’ll try to get back to winning ways when they welcome Torquay United to the Moss Rose on Saturday.