We must do better than that, says Mac
DARYL McMAHON is hopeful Macclesfield can improve on their Boxing Day performance when they meet Forest Green today.
McMahon saw it as a point gained as the Silkmen drew against Grimsby on
Thursday, due to the lack of quality on show.
It was their fifth draw on the bounce in League Two and McMahon was happy to take a share of the spoils and swiftly move on.
He said: “It was ugly and scrappy, there was not a lot of quality.
“There was a lot of endeavour and hard work, but not a lot of good decision-making. It was just an ugly game of football, really.
“There wasn’t a lot of quality in that game; I look to us to be better than we were, I expect us to be better than that as a group, but for whatever reason we’ve not put in a good performance.
“We just didn’t show the quality we’ve got in this group, we’ve got a lot of good attacking players, but we didn’t manage to carve out a good opportunity.
“It’s definitely a point gained. We’ll take it and move on.”
The first half contained few threats on either goal. Grimsby’s best chance was sent wide by Max Wright after smart work by Vernam, while Macc captain Fiacre Kelleher headed a
Jak McCourt freekick over.
The Silkmen’s Paddy Osadebe latched on to a weak header by Harry Davis, but he fired wide with only keeper James McKeown to beat.
Three minutes after being brought on at half-time, Ironside was sent tumbling in the box by Davis and picked himself up to thump home the resulting penalty.
But the lead lasted no more than 10 minutes as Vernam produced a brilliant solo effort that ended with a firm finish into the bottom corner. Grimsby caretaker manager Anthony Limbrick felt his side should have taken their first win since September, but the surface made it nigh-on impossible.
“I felt it should have been all three points for us,” he said. “The pitch made it difficult for both teams.
“When I say the pitch was bad, we didn’t realise it was as bad as this. That’s no disrespect to Macclesfield because they’ve got a lot going on at the moment.”