Peers hands rivals Alty slim victory

MACCLESFIELD Town came up short last week after suffering a narrow pre-season defeat to non-league side Altrincham.

Tom Peers got the only goal of the game as Altrincham came out on top and condemned their rivals to defeat at Moss Lane.

Macclesfield boss Mark Yates was disappointed to suffer defeat in the game, but admits that Altrincham played extremely well throughout the 90 minutes.

“We’ve got to hold our hands up and say they were excellent,” he told the club’s official website.

“We weren’t as good as we’ve been in the friendlies so far - we got the run around with the ball and without it and physically they were better than us.

“The lads worked extremely hard on Monday in training, but that’s no excuse - we were second best. We knew that we had a lot to do and that certainly proved to be the case

“We had our chances - they only had a couple of chances towards the end of the game, but in the first half they’ve only had two shots.

“The nature of their goal was poor in our view - we didn’t do enough without the ball and they kept possession very well.

“It’s not about the results at this stage, but it’s not the result I wanted and there were a few supporters here who wouldn’t have been impressed with what they saw, but there’s plenty of time to go and the lads are continually working really hard – it’s another day ticked off.”

Altrincham were quick out of the blocks in the match and they were able to take the lead after just eight minutes.

Jordan Hulme’s initial shot was only parried away by Sam Ramsbottom, with Peers on hand to tap the ball into an empty net and make it 1-0 to the hosts.

Macc tried to level things up immediately as Nathan Blissett and Scott Wilson both had chances, with Wilson having the better effort when he forced a save out of Anthony Thompson.

Altrincham continued to have opportunities of their own as they went in search of another goal, with the non-league side giving their opponents a competitive match.

James Pearson was making his first start for Macc since signing a deal with the club, and he went close on multiple occasions, first when he headed over from a corner before then seeing Ramsbottom make another save to deny him.

The match entered the second half, with Miles Welch-Hayes one of two substitutes that came on for Macc, and he was involved straight away after winning a free kick for his side.

Koby Arthur hit it but saw the shot saved by the in-form Thompson.

Further Silkmen changes came on the hour mark, as Tyrone Marsh, Harry Smith, Fiacre Kelleher, Jamie Grimes and Danny Whitaker all came on.

Jordan Hulme almost scored a second goal for Altrincham when his header looked goalbound, but Pearson was there to head it off the line and ensure the score remained 1-0.

Smith had two late efforts for the Silkmen, while Altrincham’s Shaun Miller hit the crossbar with an attempt at the other end, but the 90 minutes ended with Altrincham holding on to earn the victory and prevent Macc from taking anything from the game.

MACCLESFIELD TOWN:

Trialist ( Trialist 60’), Hodgkiss (Grimes 60’), Lowe (Kelleher 60’), Pearson, Fitzpatrick ( Welch-Hayes 45’), Arthur ( Whitaker 60’), Evans, Trialist (Lloyd 45’), Stephens (Mackreth 42’), Blissett (Marsh 60’), Wilson (Smith 60’).