Clegg: ‘We played into rivals hands’
MACCLESFIELD boss Michael Clegg suffered defeat for the first time since taking charge a month ago after a narrow defeat at Worksop Town.
Jay Rollins put the Tigers 1-0 up at the Windsor Stadium after capitalising on a Drew Baker error, three minutes before John Rooney saw red for a late challenge on winger Terry Hawkridge.
“It’s a tough place to come”, said Clegg. “When you throw a game away like that in three minutes like we did, you deserve everything that you get.”
Rollins dispossessed Baker, heading the ball past the Silkmen centrehalf before drilling a faultless effort into the far corner.
“I think the goal was absolutely awful, individual mistakes, and the red [card] was the same.
“We carved open some good chances in the first half, Tunde [Owolabi] has got to score where he’s hit the bar and then a couple flashed across goal.
“Obviously, you’re in an uphill battle with 10 men against Worksop, we all know they’re strong at home and we got what we deserved in the end.”
Worksop hold one of the most impressive home records in the league, losing just three of their last 10 games.
In regards to the reasoning for Macc’s misfortune on Saturday, Clegg agreed that his team appeared to play into the hands of their opponents and, in turn, allowed Worksop to take advantage of this.
“We defended too deep which wasn’t the instruction but we retreated and we allowed them to gain a bit of pressure but I thought it was a very even game.
“We had chances, they had chances, but for us we’ve just got to be better all over.
“I think there’s been a lot of good work go on over the last month or so and this is always a tough place to come.
“I think to come here and win you’ve got to be at it and for large parts of we weren’t but we still carved open some really good openings, we could’ve got our noses in front before half-time.
“You struggle to recover after a three or four minutes like we had and we’ve got to expect better than that.
“Obviously the travelling fans have had to watch that last half-hour where it’s just kind of petered out but the beauty of this league is that you can put it right in three days and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do at Stafford [Rangers] on Tuesday.”
Despite failing to convert, Macclesfield were not short of chances to do so and appeared not clinical enough in front of goal.
“You’ve got to take them chances”, added Clegg. “We worked good openings and we’ve had a few decent set-plays as well and we’ve just got to be better.
“Goals change games and the one that hit the crossbar should be rattling the back of the net but it’s not happened so we’ve got to take our medicine and we go again.
“We’ve just not really turned up today.”
After dropping to ten men after Rooney’s poorly-timed challenge on Hawkridge, the Silks had to play the final halfan-hour both a goal down and a man down.
“John [Rooney] has been around long enough, he doesn’t need me telling him that the foul’s not needed,” said Clegg.
“He’s done really good things since he’s been at Macc and everyone can have a rush of blood.
“I think that was his frustration at how the game was going but we need him on the pitch, he’s no good to us off it.
“These things happen, it’s not going to derail us, we’re in great form, they’ve won a lot of games lately.
“It’s going to be tough because you’re away from home but I think we can use this as a positive and we can go into Tuesday with a point to prove.”
After having several games postponed due to weather conditions and game clashes, Macc now face a busy few weeks in comparison to fellow play-off contenders.
Following Saturday’s defeat, 53 points sees them sit in sixth place with 10 games remaining.
“As long as I’m in charge of this football club, everyone will be giving it the ultimate respect,” insisted Clegg.
“In the short time you’ve met me, we’ll always look at the opposition and how they can hurt us and how we can hurt them.
“We’ve got to take our A-game and that’s up to me now to lift the group and pick a team that’ll go and get us three points.
“That’s what I’m paid to do and that’s what I look forward to.
“You cannot sulk in this league, we’ve got eight massive weeks to go and you’re going to lose football games but there’s ways to lose them and that’s not how you do it.
“I’m sure they’ll bounce back, they’re in a good run of form bar that last halfhour today so I think we just take the positives and move on.”