Gnahoua magic
SKY BET
LEAGUE TWO MACCLESFIELD .............. 1 CAMBRIDGE UTD ........... 0
MACCLESFIELD Town recorded a hard-fought victory over a stubborn Cambridge United outfit at the Moss Rose.
Arthur Gnahoua’s early strike was enough to seal the points as he caught Cambridge goalkeeper Callum Burton out at his near post in the opening minutes.
The Silkmen looked to make the most of this good early spell with efforts from Jay Harris and David Fitzpatrick following Gnahoua’s early strike.
George Maris almostpulled Cambridge back level with a curling effort from the edge of the area, but his short flew just wide following a counterattack.
Gnahoua, who was a thorn in the Cambridge backline for much of the early exchanges, would find himself with Macc’s next chance of note; but his goalbound effort was blocked by a scrambling defence.
Despite being on the backfoot for the majority of the first half, the U’s came close to finding an equaliser through Maris again; but his effort was headed off the line by Fiacre Kelleher.
Fraser Horsfall headed just over as Macc continued to dominate in the first half before Joe Ironside came close following a fantastic solo run.
The Silkmen started the second half with the same intensity that was on display for much of the opening period; with Gnahoua beating two players before sliding the ball towards Connor Kirby, who just couldn’t connect.
Kirby almost turned provider himself moments later, but his cutback was too short for the onrushing Joe Ironside.
The Silkmen had the ball in the back of the net once again ten minutes into the second half, but the referee disallowed the goal after a short consultation with the linesman.
Cambridge grew into the game on the hour mark and almost drew level through chief threat Maris, who saw his powerful close-range effort held by Evans.
They continued to push for an equaliser and almost found it through Paul Lewis; but he could only hit the outside of the post from close in.
Ironside’s shot from the edge of the area was a welcome break from Cambridge’s increasing threat; but he couldn’t find the target with his half volley.
Whilst the visitors controlled the ball for the final minutes, they were unable to create a chance of note as the Silkmen held firm to claim all three points.
Caretaker boss Danny Whitaker said: “We looked at Cambridge and saw that they start games slow, so we made the lads well aware that we needed to get at them from the off, and they did that so it was absolutely brilliant and I was more than happy with that.
“Sometimes you have got to do different things and look at things differently and he [Arthur Gnahoua] has done that, and it has paid off, and I can’t thank him enough for that.”