Robins bring Macc back down to earth
MACCLESFIELD Town suffered a defeat last week as they were comfortably beaten away from home against Cheltenham Town.
Goals from Luke Varney, Conor Thomas and Ryan Broom secured all three points for Cheltenham, and meant that Macc left the Jonny-Rocks Stadium empty-handed.
The loss ended a good run of form for Macclesfield, and assistant coach Danny Whitaker admits it was a frustrating evening.
“We have been brought back down to earth a bit, but that’s football and you have ups and downs along the season,” he said.
“We have to pick ourselves back up now. There were four or five who did themselves justice, but we are a young group and we need to learn and learn quickly.
“Coming to Cheltenham on a Tuesday night is not going to be easy. You have to adapt and play a little bit differently in different circumstances.
“Before their first goal we played really well and causing some problems.
“Things then went against us and we have to bounce back.” Macc held their own for much of the first half, with Joe Ironside coming close to putting Macc ahead just before the 20 minute mark; but his header was deflected behind Scott Flinders’ goal.
Cheltenham took a while to grow into the game, with their first chance of note coming after half an hour as Chris Hussey fired over the crossbar after Charlie Raglan’s cut back.
Macc would have another chance through Arthur Gnahoua before falling behind, but his effort was blocked by the Robins’ back line.
Luke Varney netted the evening’s opening goal, sliding the ball into an empty net after Ryan Broom played the ball across the six yard area.
Conor Thomas then doubled Cheltenham’s advantage on the hour mark as he stretched to divert the ball past Owen Evans.
Macc responded well to this setback and had the ball in the net as substitute Virgil Gomis turned Jak McCourt’s cross into the net, but he was adjudged to have done so from an offside position and the goal was chalked off.
This would prove costly as the Robins added their third just three minutes later as Ryan Broom took the ball around Owen Evans to seal the points for Cheltenham.
Evans then produced a fantastic late save to keep out Alex Addai from close in. Cheltenham would have the ball in the net once more as the game fizzled towards its conclusion, but Jonte Smith saw his effort ruled out for offside.
Smith would come close once more, but he clipped the post with a late right footed shot. It meant that the match finished 3-0, with Macclesfield brushed aside and unable to get anything from the match.
CHELTENHAM TOWN:
Flinders, Long, Hussey, Tozer, Raglan, Thomas, Broom (Ince 87), Reilly (Addai 77), Doyle-Hayes, Greaves, Varney (Smith 71) Unused subs: Clements, Boyle, Lloyd, Lovett (GK)
MACCLESFIELD TOWN:
Evans, McCourt, Kelleher, Vassell, Gnahoua (Gomis 68), Ironside, Archibald, Welch-Hayes, Kirby, O’Keeffe, Osadebe
Unused subs: Stephens, Chales-Cook (GK), Horsfall, Ntambwe, Fitzpatrick