Busy weekend Silkmen rejuvenated by half-time ‘chat’ with boss
MACCLESFIELD FC drew 1-1 on Saturday afternoon with National League side Stockport County in a well contested pre-season friendly at the Leasing.com Stadium.
The Silkmen had to dig deep to rescue a point after falling behind early in the second half but a late and powerful strike by Ekow Coker brought Macclesfield level.
In what is a completely fresh start for now Macclesfield FC, new manager Danny Whitaker returns to a club where he was a fan favourite between 2013 and 2020 as a player.
He said the 1-1 draw with the Hatters on Saturday was a ‘tough’ test for his side as they close in on their maiden season in the North West Counties Premier Division.
He said: “It was a tough game for different reasons. I don’t think we started the game well like we have done in other games.
“So obviously we had another chat at half-time and they’ve gone out there and they were a different team completely. I thought we totally dominated the second half. It is concerning to a degree that we’ve not started the second game in a week how we should have done.”
Although Whitaker couldn’t put his finger on the reason his side struggled to get going in the first half. He said: “I don’t know really, whether it’s just a lack of concentration, obviously the opposition have come, they’ve had lots of the ball. They’ve tried to play like Barcelona, which is fair enough, we just need to be clever in the knowledge of working out how the game is going to go, how they want to play, how we can stop them playing and just playing at a higher intensity. Which we did in the second half, we won more second balls, more duels and we played with a purpose.”
Speaking about the all-important equaliser from unlikely goal scorer Ekow Coker, he added: “It was a good strike and at the end of the day you don’t mind who scores as long as you score and it was a well worked goal.
“Obviously, you don’t expect to see him inside the box and striking it as well as he did but fair play to him, he’s followed his pass, kept the move going and got his just rewards at the end of it.”
Although, there was an element of disappointment from Whitaker’s perspective. He said: “We were by far the better team in the second half, higher intensity, winning the second balls and then playing forwards as quickly as possible and we created two or three really good chances. If they go in then you end up winning the game.”
Saturday’s friendly was the second for Macclesfield in 24 hours after a Friday night 3-0 defeat to Conference North Chester. Silkmen assistant manager, Peter Band, thought their fringe players and reserves ‘gave a good account for themselves against a strong Chester side’ despite the 3-0 defeat.
As the Silkmen close into the start of their league campaign, Whitaker found this penultimate friendly and the Chester game the night before valuable, adding: “Every game’s useful because you’re finding little things about different players, learning so much from every game and when we look back at it, we’ll probably see things that we missed. So valuable because we’re a week away from the season start, and we just need to learn as much as we possibly can about every single player.”
MACCLESFIELD FC are delighted to announce that midfielder Rodney Ajayi has agreed a deal with the club following a successful trial period.
Standing at 6ft 2in tall, the 25-year-old will provide an imposing presence and can also be employed at centre-back.
Rodney began his career at Stockport County and after progressing through the youth ranks, made the move to Stockport Sports in 2014.
A move to Avro ensued, before Rodney enjoyed two season at Atherton Labernum Rovers between 2016-18.
Spending the last two campaigns at West Didsbury and Chorlton, Rodney bring a wealth of experience to the Leasing.com Stadium and is a welcome addition to our first team squad.
Rodney’s transfer is subject to ratification from the Football Association and North West Counties Football League.
THIS weekend saw plenty of cricket at Macclesfield with the 1st XI kicking things off as they hosted Warrington on Saturday.
Captain James Cross won the toss and elected to field first, giving the new ball to Miles Bradshaw and Chris Moores.
The visitors got off to a steady start against the tricky bowling until Bradshaw had Mike Rudd caught at point. Warrington then rebuilt quickly as the second wicket pair found the boundary regularly until Moores bowled Jake Liddle for 31.
South African overseas Jonathon Fletcher was next to the middle for the away side and looked to score quickly, finding the rope multiple times.
John Birchall took his first wicket of the afternoon with the score now 88-3, dismissing Harley Barratt for 26.
The captain then brought himself on to bowl, striking quickly in taking the wickets of Tom Higham, thanks to a sharp stumping from Jack Mattsson, and Rohan Luthra. At the other end, Fletcher remained strong on his way past 50 in a great effort for his side.
In the final few overs, Warrington looked to post a solid total with quick runs for Patrick Tyrell (26) and Ashely Scholes (17) whilst Fletcher eventually fell for 81, caught well by Sam Buckingham.
Bradshaw took another wicket at the end to finish with figures of 4-50 as the visitors were bowled out for 209.
In reply, Warrington got a breakthrough in the first over as Jack Mattsson was caught by Umer Zeb, bringing the skipper to the middle.
Cross and Rob Porter looked to steady the ship against a tough bowling attack.
The pair then shared 64 runs before Porter fell to the bowling of Luthra. Cross was next to be dismissed after making an important 41.
Bradshaw then joined Birchall at the crease and the pair looked to bat positively together against the changes in bowling.
Birchall hit a quickfire 42 half century as Macclesfield passed 150 before falling for 57 off 42 balls. Warrington struck again soon after as Liddle trapped Buckingham LBW, bringing Brad Porter in to bat.
Young Porter and Bradshaw batted well together bringing Macclesfield towards a win until Porter was also dismissed for 17.
At the other end, Bradshaw remained resolute as he surpassed 50 and took his side within touching distance of the win before being caught for a well constructed 58.
Jack Massey saw Macclesfield home with a boundary as the 1st XI won by three wickets, and a valuable 25 points, with just two overs remaining.
The 1st XI completed their double header as they hosted Congleton on Sunday.