My Merthyr ‘meltdown’ reaction, posted immediately after Macclesfield’s 2-1 loss in the Silkmen News’ Unofficial Fans Facebook group caused an unintended stir. (Photo credit: Chelsie Ann Louise)

Perhaps, on reflection, my comments were too emotive in the aftermath of the team’s first defeat of the season. Especially given the nature of it – a spectacular goal of the season scissor kick in injury time, worthy of winning any game. And also in light of the Silkmen’s absentees: Matheson, McFayden, Lacey, Dawson, Kay and Dos Santos due to various mitigating circumstances, self-inflicted or otherwise.

This edition of The Silkmen News will analyse how BAD our performance was against Merthyr, and how EXCELLENT the team was after going down to ten men against Scarborough. If you find the analysis of Merthyr too depressing, scroll down and read the good stuff about Scarborough!

Lucky or unlucky?

My original Facebook view stands. This was a desperately poor performance by Macc against a Merthyr Town side who hadn’t won since the opening day of the season (five matches).

The manner of the loss cemented, in my view, that John Rooney’s newly assembled team is struggling to gel and was flattered by its top of the league status coming into this. I’m struggling to understand what the team’s identity is – are we a possession based 4-2-3-1 set-up, do we want to play with conventional wingers and be more attack-minded in a 4-3-3, or we want to utilise the natural width and pace we’ve recruited in the summer to play on the counter?

In reality, only the 3-0 home win over early league leaders Hebburn Town could be described as a deserved victory for Macc in our eight league games so far. A scoreline I previously debated on this website as to whether it was our best ‘result’, or best ‘performance’?

The opening day win over Marine could easily have been a draw. The dramatic 2-1 triumph over Radcliffe was a timely comeback but against a team in wretched form, who lost both of their central defenders to injury in the first-half and were denied by an inspired Christian Dibble. The goalless draw at Spalding was hard-fought against a newly promoted side who came on strong in the final 20 minutes and could have won it.

The 2-1 win against Brackley saw us recover brilliantly from a goal down once more, but arguably only because the visitor’s suffered (deservedly) a red card in first-half injury time just after they had taken the lead following a period of dominance. Finally another 2-1, come-from-behind win at Darlington was achieved against the beleaguered Quakers who had lost their last six matches at home (make that eight now), who hit the post at 1-1.

Luck, or simply getting the rub-of-the-green, was never going to be sustainable. It’s also worth noting that the majority of the teams Macclesfield have played so far are currently in the bottom half of the table.

And so it’s proven with Macc on the wrong end of some misfortune in their last two games – losing to a ‘worldy’ strike at Merthyr, and then having Tom Wilson sent off after 17 minutes against Scarborough on Tuesday, whilst also being denied a strong penalty shout when Elliott Osborne was bundled over in the box (scroll down for analysis of those decisions).

The Silkmen’s response to going a man down against the Seadogs was outstanding – more on that below. Firstly, let’s discuss what went wrong at Merthyr and why the travelling Silkmen faithful were so frustrated by what they witnessed.

Merthyr meltdown – the context

At face value, was the Merthyr setback really that bad and entirely understandable given Rooney’s men are currently walking wounded?

We took the lead through another Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Adan George link-up, with George bundling home (fairly) after the Merthyr keeper failed to claim the left wing cross cleanly. Unfortunately, CBJ tweaked something in his delivery of it and had to be withdrawn for young right back Hassan Ayub, which required Ammar Dyer to switch to left back after 60 minutes.

Did CBJ’s withdrawal have a significant impact on Macclesfield losing the game? It certainly didn’t help and it’s worth noting that Cameron had won 7 of his 8 ground duels prior to going off and Merthyr ruthlessly exploited our left-hand-side thereafter.

Eventual Merthyr match-winner Ellis Watts entered the fray as a substitute on the right wing seven minutes later and led the Silkmen a merry dance for the 25 minutes he was on the field. 33 touches of the ball, 4 shots (3 on target), won 5 out of his 9 duels. 93% pass completion, 2 out of 4 successful dribbles and a crackerjack of a strike to seal the three points against the shellshocked Silkmen.

It would be unfair though to hail Watts as the reason why Merthyr turned the tables. He was simply part of the bigger problem as Merthyr outfought, outpassed and harassed Macc all afternoon:

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· Merthyr enjoyed 65% possession, and whilst they are a possession-based side, it’s rare to see Macclesfield dominated on the ball at this level
· Not only were Macc starved of possession, they were careless with it when they did have the ball. Their overall pass completion percentage of 71% was their lowest of the season, lower than v Brackley (76%) and a highest v Spalding (83%)
· Tactically we seemed to have no answer to contain Merthyr or play effectively with and without the ball. The Silkmen only completed 32% of their attempted long balls (53), which invited wave after wave of Merthyr pressure
· Merthyr had 15 shots (6 on target) to Macc’s 12 (5 on target), but 8 of the home side’s attempts came in the last 15 minutes as Rooney failed to stem the tide from the bench
· Apart from George’s goal, the Silkmen created few clear cut chances. George Wilson had a shot well saved by the legs of the keeper in the first half following good work by Adan George and Jonathan Ustabasi. But arguably Fin Shrimpton’s miss from a Luke Duffy counter on 68 minutes was significant. At 2-0, would there have been any way back for the Welshmen?
· Merthyr won 56% of all contested duels. They notably won the midfield battle, forced the Silkmen’s players into mistakes and ran at them frequently (22 dribble attempts compared to 12 from Macc)
· Merthyr forced Macclesfield’s players into more mistakes compared to any other game this season. In total, Macc made 7 errors which directly lead to Merthyr having attempts on goal
· Merthyr really squeezed us on the wings – as highlighted above, Duffy and Ustabasi were harried into mistakes. Ustabasi had a particularly difficult afternoon. In addition to making 2 errors which led to Merthyr shots he was also dribbled past on 3 occasions
· Even Silkmen players who are normally so composed on the ball struggled to retain it. Borthwick-Jackson’s passing accuracy was just 66% when it’s normally in the high 80s / early 90s. CBJ completed only 3 of his 12 attempted long passes.
· George Willson and Elliott Osborne struggled in the engine room. Wilson won only 6 of his 17 duels, and Osborne 3 of 11.

Little could have been done to prevent Merthyr’s winner, although Tom Wilson did have two bites at the cherry to try and clear his lines in the build-up. However, Merthyr’s equaliser WAS preventable. Wilson headed away a corner at the back post and is clearly seen beckoning substitute Matthew Apter to move sideways to put pressure on Merthyr to prevent another attack.

Apter remained where he was, prompting Wilson to abandon his central defensive berth and come out to the wing to try and stop the cross. He wasn’t able to close the gap in time, the cross was swung in from the right and goalscorer Foulston had the run on Danny Elliott and headed into the goal from close range, when ordinarily he would have been competing against the AWOL Wilson.

All in all, Merthyr represented a bad day at the office for many different reasons, but given Macclesfield’s general performances this season it wasn’t a huge surprise. Thankfully, our gallant 0-0 draw against Scarborough was a wonderfully spirited, backs-to-the-wall display for all the right reasons.

Scarborough stalemate

Scarborough at home represented a good opportunity for Macc to return to winning ways, galvanised by the return of captain Paul Dawson following his seven game ban for various misdemeanours. Daws looked accomplished in midfield until an avoidable red card for Tom Wilson after 17 minutes forced the skipper back into central defence to partner Sam Heathcote.

Was Wilson stupid or unfortunate to receive his marching orders? Both for me.

There was no need for Tom to challenge for a ball on halfway with his boot raised so high. Scarborough’s Dom Tear duly ducked into it and hit the deck, giving the trigger-happy referee a decision to make.

Wilson DID make contact, but he appeared to collide with Tear’s shoulder rather than his head, so in that regard he was unfortunate to receive a straight red card. But the chances of the referee’s decision being rescinded look slim, leaving John Rooney with another defensive headache with Cameron Borthwick-Jackson not fully fit after sustaining a strain at Merthyr and Wilson facing a three-match ban.

Macc were also denied a strong shout for a penalty. George Wilson whipped in a ball to the back post which was collected by the onrushing Elliot Osborne, who once again did a fine job filling in at right back. Osborne nudged the ball past the defender, and whilst he was no longer in possession, the Scarborough player’s momentum saw him take Osborne out.

Clear contact was made in the area, Osborne was prevented from challenging for the ball and if that’s not a penalty, what is?

Rooney’s men could easily have let their heads drop, but to their immense credit they picked up the baton and took the fight to Scarborough, displaying bravery, passion, organisation and intelligence to negotiate 75 minutes of football with only ten men. And but for some better finishing from Luke Duffy (notably) and Jon Ustabasi, the Silkmen would have deservedly gained the three points their endeavours so richly deserved.

In the end, Macc were grateful for a point thanks to another top drawer save by Christian Dibble in injury time to divert Mo Fadera’s shot around the post from 12 yards out. How many points has the outstanding Dibble won us already this season in recording his fourth clean sheet?

Scarborough: standout stats

· Macc only had 33% possession, but limited Scarborough to 14 shots and only 3 on target. Most of the away side’s attempts came late on, and they didn’t have a shot of note until the 50^th minute
· The Silkmen created the better chances (11 shots, 7 inside the area, 5 on target), and had the higher xG (expected goals) metric of 0.89 vs 0.84 for Scarborough
· Macc defended resolutely as a team, from Adan George as a loan striker in a revamped 4-4-1 formation to our backline. We won 58% of the contested ground duels and dispossessed Scarborough 11 times
· The above defensive metrics are important because we often turned over possession cheaply – just 71% overall passing accuracy (joint lowest of the season). Fin Shrimpton (60%), Luke Duffy (59%) and Jon Ustabasi (57%) were particularly culpable in that regard

Scarborough: top performers, aka Duracell bunnies

Never have I been so buoyed by a team drawing a game at home. But it was the manner in which Macc rolled their sleeves up which was so invigorating to witness and bodes well for the remainder of the season. Some performances in particular need to be called out.

· George Wilson – what a shift! George has produced some mixed displays in his early Silkmen career, but he is a player who never hides and one you absolutely want in the trenches. And if he can combine his tenacity and passing ability more consistently, Macc will have an excellent midfielder on their books.

Against Scarborough he was everywhere. The tigerish Wilson won 10 out of his 13 duels and made 7 defensive contributions. He also kept the ball better than most with a passing accuracy of 80%, completing 7 out of his 8 attempted long balls, including his diagonal pass for Osborne which could have led to a penalty.

· Jon Ustabasi – I’ve highlighted that Ustabasi can frustrate by giving the ball away cheaply, but he was equally key in keeping Scarborough at bay with a real blood and thunder performance. ‘Basi covered 11.4km up and down the right flank – more than any other player on the pitch on Tuesday, which equates to a distance of just over 7 miles (unsurprisingly, George Wilson was just behind him).
‘Basi tirelessly contested every challenge, winning 10 out of his 13 ground and aerial duels. He also embarked on some lung-bursting runs and two of his three shots were on target. Jon may lack finesse, and it’s fair to say his Silkmen career hasn’t caught fire yet, but if keeps putting in the hard yards like this his fortunes should turn soon
· Ammar Dyer – I singled Dyer out on a previous article, but he was outstanding once more against Scarborough despite playing out of his natural position at left back. The away side tried to exploit their man advantage by targeting Macclesfield’s flanks, predominantly through dangerman Rio Allan who is the National League North’s top scorer on 7 goals. Allan was restricted to only one shot all evening and was dominated by Dyer. So much so, that Allan eventually switched wings in the second half in an attempt to escape and get change out of Elliot Osborne instead.

Ammar won 13 out of his 17 ground duels, made 8 defensive contributions and registered a passing accuracy of 88%. But it was his ball carrying ability which made a huge difference in getting the Silkmen up the pitch and on the front foot. Dyer produced 12 ‘sprints’, more than any other player on the pitch and Scarborough struggled all evening with his athleticism and solid defending.

It almost ended in tears though. An uncharacteristically loose back pass from Ammar let Scarborough in, but thankfully captain fantastic Dawson was there to mop up and avert the danger. It would have been a travesty had a mistake from Dyer led to a defeat.

Tomorrow the Silkmen travel to managerless, bottom-of-the-table Spennymoor Town. It won’t be easy, but if Rooney’s men play with the same passion and diligence they showed against Scarborough, victory is surely achievable. UTS!

The Silkmen News

Chalk & cheese – Merthyr & Scarborough…