King of the Trialists – two more goals for the 19-year-old Hitman

Macclesfield 4 Cheadle Town 0

What a day. Glorious sunshine, England through to the semi-finals of the World Cup, and Macc may have found themselves a new striker and a centre half.

Let’s not get too giddy. The Silkmen’s 4-0 friendly victory came against the gallant Cheadle Town who will play in the Midland Football League Premier Division this season – Step 5 of the pyramid, having been moved laterally from the North West Counties League due to geographical allocations.

This fixture was laid on a plate for the Silkmen’s trialists to impress and most of them took their opportunity. Four in the first half (2 centre backs, a winger and a striker), and five in the second half (goalkeeper, centre back, right winger, striker and an attacking midfielder).

Although in total we only saw 8 trialists because the first-half centre back (no.5) remained on the field for 75 minutes before he was replaced by Paul Dawson. This was because Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (who was intended to play) felt a minor niggle in the warm-up and was omitted as a precaution. New winger signing Jonathan Ustabasi was also absent due to attending a pre-arranged personal engagement which the club consented to.

If I’m going to be pedantic, you could argue that only 7 ‘’new’ trialists were on show given that trialist number 11 was possibly / definitely Josh Kay. Josh was largely anonymous playing on the left wing in the first half, but he did last 45 minutes after appearing to sustain a knock in Macc’s opening pre-season win over Hyde. I devoted almost the entirety of my Hyde report to Kay so I’m not going there again.

Hitman Hodkin bags another brace

The talk of the stands was once again dominated by our trialist striker (this time wearing no.18, the photo above is from last week) who many supporters believe to be Jordan Hodkin – a 19-year old released by Crewe Alexandra who had loan spells at Leek, Nantwich Town and Bamber Bridge last season.

The youngster impressed when netting twice against Hyde a week ago – an instinctive hooked finish and then charging down a keeper clearance before tapping in his second.

Yesterday Hodkin showed us different attributes in his locker. A fox-in-the-box as he headed home a Luke Duffy corner from six-yards out to give Macc the lead on nine minutes. The pair linked up again on 31 minutes as Hodkin made it 2-0 with a finish of real promise. Playing on the shoulder as a traditional ‘number 9’, Hodkin waited then timed his run to perfection to latch onto Duffy’s slide-rule pass before cooly finishing under the keeper’s body. A simplistic finish perhaps, but there was much to admire about Hodkin’s movement and striker’s instinct in its execution.

Jordan even had the ball in the net for a third time on 41 minutes, side-footing home after quick build-up from Shrimpton and Matheson but was adjudged offside.

Can he do it on a cold Tuesday night in Scarborough? (cheers fixture computer). That remains to be seen. Hands up. I do recall getting ahead of myself this time last year when proclaiming Carlos Dos Santos as non-league’s Bruno Fernandes after CDS had danced rings around Newcastle Town.

It’s difficult because a) Hodkin looks mustard and b) we’re desperate for a striker as Danny Elliott gradually returns to fitness, but we must temper our enthusiasm given Hodkin’s age and the opposition faced so far.

There’s a lot to like about young Jordan though. His best highlight for me in the two games wasn’t his 4 goals, but the audacious effort he attempted on 21 minutes yesterday. New midfield signing Fin Shrimpton fizzed the ball out to the left flank which asked a lot of Hodkin who was second favourite to get there. Jordan showed desire and strength to win his duel with the Cheadle defender, before looking up and trying to chip the keeper from 25 yards only to see the ball land on the roof of the net. It’s probably a good job it didn’t go in, as you never know who’s watching at these type of games, if you catch my drift!

Other first half highlights

We lined up with two trialist centre halves – an area John Rooney is looking to strengthen given we’ll be without Rollin Menayese and Lewis Fensome for the coming season. No.5 played against Hyde last week and he was quietly impressive once more for the duration of his 75 minute appearance against Cheadle. Neat and tidy in mopping up, reads the game well, and a decent leap for a central defender who probably isn’t the tallest.

His name is Mo. And I know that because the encouragingly vocal Christian Dibble in goal didn’t stop yapping all half. No one was spared from officer Dibble, who also screamed ‘Kaysey’ at the Trialist No.11 who may or may not be Josh Kay ;-).

Back to Mo. Muhamed “Mo” Diomande could be a 20-year-old centre back who was born in Italy. After rising through the youth ranks at Wolves, he joined West Brom where he featured regularly for the Baggies’ U21 side last season. Diomande (if it’s him) was spotted training with Hereford earlier this month, but the fact he’s played both of Macclesfield’s pre-season friendlies to date suggests both parties like the look of each other.

Nailing my colours to the mast, I’m all in on Mo’s centre back partner yesterday called ‘Tom’ (blame Dibble). A colossus of a defender who looked very competent in possession as he sprayed a succession of cross-field balls out to Luke Matheson who had galloped forward from right back. As ever, the trialist’s identity will be kept under the wraps but he appears to have everything we need. Tall, dominant, a talker and handy with the ball. This lad looks like he’s had a brilliant upbringing at a stellar EFL club.

In truth, neither ‘Mo’ or ‘Tom’ were unduly tested by Cheadle, but both look promising for different reasons and I’m eager to see them against Leek on Tuesday night, in addition to against Wolves U21’s next weekend assuming we ask them to stick around.

Half-time: Macclesfield 2 Cheadle Town 0

We lined-up in a 4-3-3 as follows:

Dibble: a barker and an organiser. Love his leadership and organisational skills

Matheson: Luke looked sharp and latched onto several arching passes from the trialist no.16 CB

No.5 (Trialist): no fuss, no frills, but calm and collected. Resembles Marc Guehi in stature

No.16 (Trialist): Big lad, proper centre half, impressive long-range passing

McFayden: got forward and lashed a driven effort wide. Not sure about his one-on-one defending

Dawson: hit the bar with a header from a corner, but needs pre-season to get up-to-speed

Osborne: busy shift in the searing heat from Ozzy

Shrimpton: quietly effective. Every he did offensively and defensively added value

Duffy: two assists, looks razor sharp

Trialist no.18: Jordan Hodkin. See above

Trialist no.11: Josh Kay. Fairly quiet, had one effort wide after a cross deflected onto his head

Sloppy second half

Maybe it was the heat, combined with the raft of changes made at half-time, but Cheadle were the better side after the break as we were slack and sloppy in comparison. Luis Lacey’s central free-kick on 47 minutes went fractionally over the bar, but after that the visitor’s were livelier.

Carlos Dos Santos lost out in the middle of the park as Cheadle burst into the box. Their player went down under pressure and the ref waved away the penalty shouts. Cheadle then got in behind after a slick move but Macclesfied’s trialist goalkeeper was quick off his line and made a smart stop with his legs. Then on 65 minutes, Cheadle should have done better when blazing over an effort from a right wing cross which fell kindly to them.

Hit and miss from the other trialist striker

It was a frustrating spell for our other trialist striker no.9 who was returning from last week and is believed to be former Telford player Adan George. Against Hyde, George showed promise due to his speed and movement off the ball in running the channels. However, versus Cheadle he was largely starved of service as the Silkmen were disjointed in the second half.

When the ball did come to George he was either offside or his control / first touch was slightly off. It’s pre-season, it’s to be expected. But when you’re trying to impress and conscious of being eclipsed again by a 19-year-old kid, his frustration was understandable. He snatched at one chance after Dawson (coming on at centre half) played a ball into the edge of the box, Trialist no.19 laid it off but George speared it high over the bar.

Eventually George was rewarded for his perseverance when he grabbed Macc’s fourth goal on 86 minutes, firing into the bottom corner after the ball broke loose on the right hand edge of the box. To his credit it was a tidy finish at a time when he needed it. Hopefully the goal settles him down as we know from watching him against us for Telford that he is bright in the final third and a decent finisher.

Prior to that, the Silkmen made it 3-0 on 84 minutes thanks to yet another goal from a Trialist (no.19) who caught the eye (pictured below, having an uncanny resemblance to James Edmondson but it wasn’t him). He showed an excellent injection of speed to latch onto a loose square ball from the Cheadle defence, got there ahead of the onrushing keeper to jink the ball over his head and then tap into the empty net.

An excellent reward for his enterprising play throughout the half as his movement across the forward line and positive play caught my eye even before he scored. I don’t know if this lad is a member of our emerging talent squad, or a more experienced trialist, but I hope to see more of this talented player.

Full-time: Macclesfield 4 Cheadle Town 0

We lined-up in a 4-3-3 as follows:

Trialist goalkeeper: not the biggest, but did well and made one excellent reactionary stop

Dyer: gradually improved and likes to dribble and take on his man. Promising.

Trialist No.5: the same Trialist no.5 first half. Not quite as smooth in the second.

Heathcote: Sam’s first pre-season minutes. Good to see him back.

Lacey: tenacious and sharp. He’s come back looking in excellent knick

Wilson: neat, tidy, but want a bit more from him based on the two 45-min spells so far

Trialist no.19: bright, positive, bundle of energy, took his goal superbly. More please

Dos Santos: good last week, slacker this week and made poor decisions

Trialist no.23: I think this may have been one of our academy lads (Fin Foote?). Not overly involved

Trialist no.9: as above. Mixed fortunes, but showed good persistence and took his goal well

Chapman: as per Hyde, saw a decent amount of the ball, but not a lot came off for him

Sub: Dawson on for Trialist no.5. Daws sprayed some nice passes when coming on after 75 minutes. He looked more comfortable at centre back after being given the run around on occasion in midfield in the first-half.