Whitehead’s winner sees off Woking
MACCLESFIELD took another step towards bringing league football back to Moss Rose next season with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Woking on Good Friday.
The Silkmen had to rely on a bizarre 94th minute winner from Danny Whitehead to see off the hosts after a late Reece Grego-Cox equaliser had looked to be enough to deny John Askey’s men all three points.
Woking ran out 3-1 winners in the reverse fixture back in September, and started well this time around as well.
Grego-Cox went close with a dipping half-volley after a sweeping diagonal was poorly dealt with by the Town defence, before a swift Woking break forced Shawn Jalal into a haphazard double save.
The keeper’s spilled first effort was made up for by a fine recovering smother.
Next time, however, Jalal’s poor handling would be punished.
On the 20th minute mark a relatively weak header from Charlie Carter squirmed out of the the keeper’s grasp, and following a minor scramble in the six yard box, the Woking top-scorer was presented with a second chance to fire home that he simply couldn’t spurn.
Town responded well to falling behind, and a series of half chances culminated in an equaliser ten minutes before half-time.
A stunning deep cross was quarterbacked into the box by Mitch Hancox, and the looming Nathan Blissett was clinical enough to guide his header home.
After the break Macclesfield began to play like league leaders, with Hancox having the best of the early chances - his glancing header drifting just past the far post.
The breakthrough eventually came in the 54th minute, when Tyrone Marsh met Blissett’s flick-on to rifle an unstoppable half-volley into the top corner.
With that goal Town should perhaps have been able to kick on and kill the game off, but with the wet conditions worsening and clearcut opportunities at a premium they were unable to make their prolonged periods of pressure count.
Instead it was the Silkmen who were made to pay for a lapse in concentration.
A retaken Regan Charles-Cook corner somehow evaded everybody in a blue shirt and landed at the feet of Grego-Cox, who made no mistake with the goal gaping and six minutes left on the clock.
In the aftermath of Woking’s equaliser, Town manager Askey was sent to the stands for dissent.
The old adage goes that champions must be able to grind out results when things aren’t going their way, and if Macclesfield are to return to the football league they may well look at this match as a key moment.
With the clock ticking down, Whitehead found Marsh with a battling header.
The striker poked an effort past the rushing Nathan Baxter, and ran off in celebration, only for the ball to get stuck in a heavily waterlogged goalmouth.
Time stood still, Woking defenders turned away dejected, and the first man to react to the bizarre incident was Whitehead, who came from nowhere and flung himself, and the ball, over the line to take Town six points clear at the top of the table.
Speaking of his side’s late winner after the game, Askey said: “It doesn’t just happen. It shows how fit we are, and it’s that desire we’ve got as well.
“Let’s keep that going.”