Cup tie respite from the league

MACCLESFIELD Town midfielder Ben Stephens admits that this weekend’s FA Cup tie gives his side a chance to take a break from their difficult spell in the league.

The Silkmen have a trip to National League side Maidstone United, and Stephens is relishing the chance to bounce back and put their bad league form behind them.

“We are always thinking about the league, but Saturday is an opportunity to take our minds away from it for a moment,” he told the club’s official website.

“It’s another game which means we have another chance to get a clean sheet under our belt and hopefully a victory too.”

Macclesfield’s last game saw them suffer a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Bury, and while Stephens got his team’s goal in the match, he was very frustrated.

“It was a tough one to take and everyone was feeling downbeat but the recovery starts at training,” he said.

“All the team are working hard, but individual mistakes are costing us at this moment in time and we need to iron them out.

“We have got to stick together, it’s what we’ve got at the moment that will help us power through

“It was a good feeling to score my first goal, although I can’t remember much of it. Jared slipped it through and I saw the goalkeeper coming so I lifted it and fortunately it went in the back of the net.

“It’s hard to celebrate a goal when we have lost in that manner. We feel that we conceded a few sloppy goals and fortunately we pulled it back, but we didn’t really kick on after that.

“Obviously their third goal killed us, but we can’t concede goals like that at home, it’s as simple as that.

“When you score at home you need to remain hard to beat.”