YATES: OUR LUCK NEEDS TO CHANGE
MACCLESFIELD boss Mark Yates was left questioning the officials after his side were denied a late penalty as they shared the points with unbeaten Forest Green.
The winless Silkmen had drawn level through Scott Wilson, after falling behind to Dayle Grubb’s free-kick two minutes into the second half.
But controversy reigned late on when Wilson appeared to have been fouled by Rovers keeper Robert Sanchez and referee Graham Salisbury awarded a penalty, only to withdraw it after consulting his assistant.
“The referee is in a perfect position, he had exactly the same view as us except he’s 40 yards closer,” explained Yates, still to win a game as Macc manager.
“Whether it was or not, I’m not 100 per cent sure, but he’s given it and the linesman was 60 yards away, the fourth official the same distance. The referee is in a miles better position.
“I’m going to ask him about that decision because he certainly didn’t get there from speaking to the linesman on the far side. It sums our luck up at the moment.
“It’s probably our most complete performance of the season, without being sparkling. All I had asked for was effort, commitment, desire and work rate and we played some good football within that as well.”
Still smarting from their 8-0 drubbing in their Carabao Cup match at West Ham in midweek, Macclesfield more than matched the visitors in a goalless first half.
Rovers goalkeeper Sanchez remained largely untroubled, however, saving a Tyrone Marsh shot and seeing efforts from Koby Arthur and Nathan Blissett sail wide.
Meanwhile, Silkmen keeper Kieran O’Hara only had to watch wayward shots by Reece Brown and Joseph Mills find the crowd.
But all of the hosts’ good work was undone less than two minutes into the second half, when substitute Grubb scored with his first touch, beating O’Hara with a well-struck free kick.
Macc hit back soon after when Danny Whitaker split the defence and Wilson latched on to his pass to slot home.
Forest Green boss Mark Cooper was also unimpressed with the referee, although he felt the penalty decision was, eventually, the right call. “It was a blatant dive, you could see from where we were,” he said. “The referee guessed at a lot of things today, for both teams. “It’s contentious whether their goal was offside or not, but they probably deserved to get that bit of fortune. “I’m not happy with our performance, I said it was going to be a difficult game. “We had no zest or drive about us then Grubby came on and scored. We didn’t play well. We’re lucky to get out of here with a point. We’ll take that and move on.”