Macc provide test for Clarets
MACCLESFIELD Town put in a good performance but came up short after losing to Premier League side Burnley over the weekend.
Goals from Aaron Lennon and Johann Berg Gudmundsson earned Burnley the victory over Macc at the Moss Rose.
While his team may have lost, manager Mark Yates was pleased with the efforts and felt there were improvements from the 1-0 defeat to Altrincham in the previous match.
“Tuesday against Altrincham was disappointing for everybody, but it was good that it came because at that point we were pleased with how things were going in pre-season,” he told the club’s official website.
“We had a bit of adversity and things didn’t pan out the way we liked, but we learned from it and worked on things in training and I thought we were great against Burnley.
“They are a tough side but I thought we gave them a good game. We want to keep the ball as much as we can and we have players who can do that, but when you come up against a team with the quality of Burnley, you need to be sound without the ball defensively.
“Everyone stuck to the task brilliantly, and the fact we were a bit hard done by to go in 1-0 down at half-time shows how good we were.
“It was a bit of sloppy play but I’ll take responsibility for that because I’m encouraging them to play football. We didn’t take care enough and Aaron Lennon read the pass and got in.
“We were up against a really good team so to only concede from a bit of sloppy play and then a free-kick, we’ll take that. There are plenty of positives from the game and still lots to learn and work on.”
It was the first home game for Yates since being appointed as Macclesfield boss, and he named a strong starting line-up for the match. Burnley had divided their squad for two Friday night friendlies, with half heading to nearby Curzon Ashton.
Gudmundsson was involved early on as he tested the returning Macclesfield goalkeeper Rhys Taylor, who was equal to the shot.
Danny Whitaker and Michael Rose combined well for Macc at the other end, playing in Koby Arthur who had a deflected shot from the edge of the area end up in the thankful arms of Tom Heaton.
Burnley’s Chris Wood then headed over from Charlie Taylor’s delivery, before he then hit the post with another opportunity a few minutes later.
Both teams continued to create opportunities as the half progressed, with David Fitzpatrick having the pick of the bunch when he forced Heaton to tip an effort around the post.
It looked like it may be goalless at the break, but Burnley made the breakthrough when they capitalised on a mistake in the Macc defence.
Lennon was quick to pounce on a sloppy pass and made the opposition defence pay when he coolly slotted over Taylor to make it 1-0.
Burnley picked up where they left off at the start of the second half as they doubled their lead just three minutes after the restart.
Jack Cork was fouled 25 yards from goal, allowing Gudmundsson to step up and curl home the resulting free kick to increase their side’s advantage.
Despite trialing, Macclesfield continued to create chances of their own, as they gave as good as they got against their Premier League rivals. Callum Evans fired a low drive wide of the post, before Danny Whitaker sent a header wide of the post.
Macc couldn’t find a goal, but they still put up a commendable effort despite suffering the 2-0 defeat.
MACCLESFIELD TOWN STARTING XI:
Taylor, Hodgkiss, Fitzpatrick, Keheller, Grimes, Wilson, Smith, Arthur, Evans, Whitaker, Rose. Subs: Lowe, Marsh, Gray, Welch-Hayes, Pearson, Blissett, McKeown