Silkmen pride intact after Trophy exit FREE £2
AFTER picking up the baton from former boss Alex Bruce, manager Michael Clegg made Macclesfield proud by leading an excellent FA Trophy run that ended on Saturday following a challenging clash against National League side Gateshead.
Clegg took charge in the Second Round, where statement victories against the likes of Alfreton Town, Dorking Wanderers and Coalville Town saw his side reach the semi-final, an achievement that most would applaud despite falling short at the last hurdle.
An army of 695 Silkmen fans backed their team in Gateshead, where a dominant display and two early goals led to Clegg acknowledging the quality of Saturday’s opponents: “Gateshead are the best team I’ve had to pick my brains against for a long time”, he said.
“The way they play football is a credit to themselves and they’re really good. It was impossible to play at times, it was really flat.
“[I’m] just gutted, gutted for all the lads, the club, the fans who were amazing. It’s a tough one to take.”
Gateshead were equipped with excellent attacking quality, with Dajaune Brown and Ben Whorman in particular causing the Silkmen backline problems all afternoon.
Clegg added that this was not made any easier by the tough conditions that the two sides were having to play through, with strong winds making it difficult to anticipate the movements of the ball.
“There was a lot of good attacking players on the pitch and the wind’s played a huge part,” he said.
With the Gateshead International Stadium being used primarily for athletics, the Silkmen boss felt that the 400m track that separated the pitch and the dugout added to the obstacles that he felt his side faced on Saturday.
“To work that hard to get to a national semi-final at our level and then be stood on your own, 10 metres away from all your staff and your subs and so far from your fans it took a bit away from me personally,” he admitted.
“It was really frustrating but we’ve got a massive job on our hands between now and the end of the season. There’s no excuses from us now. Everyone’s fit, everybody’s firing.
“I thought Tre [Pemberton] could have potentially nicked an equaliser and then when
Sam [Heathcote] got offside right at the end. It just wasn’t to be and Gateshead are a top-class opponent and we wish them all the best.”
Gateshead currently sit in sixth place of the National League with a number of games in hand of the teams above them.
Despite Macc having swept aside National League side Dorking Wanderers 5-0 in the Fourth Round of the Trophy, promotion-chasing Gateshead appeared to be playing at a different level of quality.
“They can pick you apart”, said Clegg. “They move the ball well, they rotate you well.
“Analysing them on a screen and putting things in a computer is a lot easier than when you see it in front of you.
“We’re where we are, they’re where they are, we’re on two different journeys at the moment but our lads gave everything today and the fans showed us that at the end.
“It’s just a tough one to take but we’ve just got to roll our sleeves up now and look forward to the rest of the league campaign.”
But result aside, Clegg made it clear that he was proud of him and his side in terms of how far they have come, both in the league and in the cup.
To make it to the last four of the Trophy alongside three other National League sides is no easy task.
“My team will always give you everything and that’s what we as staff are,” said Clegg.
“Going over [to the fans] at the end was really emotional, all our friends, family, volunteers, everyone put so much into this and it would’ve been a great day at Wembley for us but we’ll go again.
“We’ve got a chance to put that right now in the next three-to-four weeks. We’ll use that as fuel to fire us to where we want to go.
“We’re playing well. We’ve got momentum, we’ve got consistency and I’m just hoping we can end strong.”