Macc in great place for Wembley push
MACCLESFIELD manager Michael Clegg insists the Silkmen ‘couldn’t be in a better place’ as they prepare for arguably their biggest game of the season on Saturday.
Three wins in the last week – at Ashton United last Tuesday , at home to FC United of Manchester on Saturday and at Hyde United on Easter Monday – has left Clegg’s men third in the NPL Premier, just one point behind Warrington with a game in hand.
The push for promotion takes a back seat this weekend, however, with the chance of an historic appearance at Wembley up for grabs in the FA Trophy semi final.
To secure an appearance at the Home of Football, the Silkmen must upset the odds by beating National League outfit Gateshead at the Gateshead International Stadium. It promises to be a tough ask for Clegg, but it’s a challenge he’s relishing.
“We can’t wait for next week,” he said following Monday’s 3-1 win at Hyde. “It’s going to be a tough game and we’re going to start our prep on that from now. We’ll train well this week, it’s a huge week for the football club and when we go up there we’ll be giving it absolutely everything. If a date at Wembley can’t motivate lads, then you’ve got problems! I keep saying it’s not motivating them at the moment I need to do, it’s calming them down. They are just eager to get on the pitch. We’re in great form, some players are in really good form, the squad and everyone’s fit and hungry and hopefully we can get Alex Curran back as well this week, so fingers crossed we couldn’t be in a better place.”
After Monday’s 3-1 win at Ewen Fields on Monday, Clegg admitted his side hadn’t been at their best. Danny Lafferty’s opener was cancelled out by Florian Yonsian but further goals from Paul Dawson and Kane Drummond wrapped up the points as the home side finished with ten men after Harry Ditchfield was dismissed.
“It was a big three points,” said Clegg. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t think we were great – obviously the reds made a difference in the game towards the end, but I thought Hyde were good.
“Sometimes you have to take your hat off to the oppposition, but we’ve come here, we’ve got three points and we just move on.
“It’s it’s massive, I’ve just had a quick look at the league table and it looks great. We’re in great form, it’s the group at the moment. We weren’t great in the first half but once we get our noses in front we’re so dangerous on the
break. So we weren’t at our best, but to come to Hyde and win 3-1, you’d have been happy with that.
“Some of them lads have played a lot of football and fiar play to everyone in the league – to play Saturday/Monday at the intensity they do and the numbers they clock up, it’s great. So we’re made up with our lot.”
Just a couple of days earliker, Clegg had expressed his delight following a crucial 3-1 victory over FC United of Manchester on Saturday afternoon.
After United’s Jan Palinkas cancelled out Laurent Mendy’s spectacular opener, second half strikes from Kane Drummond and Sam Heathcote provided a sigh of relief, with the three points gained positioning the Silkmen in third place.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men after two bookings in four minutes for substitute Paul Ennis saw him walk just
15 minutes after coming on.
“The atmosphere was brilliant”, said Clegg. “Bar the goal we gave away, I think we were really good today.
“Everything is on the lads at the moment, I’ve come into a squad that was already doing well and they’ve kicked on again.
“Am I surprised? No, not with the quality we’ve got but what I’m more pleased with is that they’re figuring things out themselves.
“Their discipline was really good, that’s something that I’ve been really keen to get better.
“We scored another goal from a set-play which we’ve been working really
hard on and I just thought there was some good performances all over the pitch.”
Clegg has expressed in previous weeks how grateful he is of his coaching staff and the effort they put in, picking out Lewis Hardcastle in particular who works hard to improve Macc’s setpieces.
With Mendy’s opener coming from a corner and Heathcote’s third being the product of a wellworked free-kick, the Silks appear to be benefiting greatly from these setplays.
“We were dangerous off set-plays and when games get that tight at this end of