Macc 1 Ashton 0 – five belated reflections
Mellor magic keeps Silkmen on top
Seldom has a scoreline masked what was a pasting from start to finish than Macc’s 1-0 victory over Ashton last Tuesday. The Silkmen registered over 20 efforts on goal and dominated possession, but had to settle for substitute D’mani Mellor’s winner midway through the second half to bag three, precious points and keep Macc top of the Northern Premier League.
The fixture paired 1st against 4th, but the gulf in class between the sides looked far greater in what Head Coach Robbie Savage described as his unbeaten team’s best performance of the season. Belatedly, here are five takeaways from the game that are worthy of further reflection.
Never judge a book by its cover
D’Mani Mellor’s arrival at the Leasing.com stadium was greeted with a fair amount of derision. In a squad that has so far been lacking in goals, Robbie Savage’s decision to draft in a player who has only found the back of the net once in over 40 league and cup appearances raised eyebrows. Supporter views’ from Mellor’s previous clubs also left a lot to be desired, too.
But as the old saying goes: ‘never judge a book by its cover’, and maybe sceptical Silkmen supporters (and I count myself as one of them!) need to trust Sav’s judgement and assess Mellor on merit?
Mellor’s cameo off the bench in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Stockton provided a glimpse of what he can bring to Macc – energy, directness and pace in forward areas, coupled with the desire to prove a point. We saw more of the same against Ashton, with the crucial addition of an end product to put the icing on the cake.
After replacing Danny Elliott on 54 minutes, Mellor won a free-kick on the edge of the box 60 seconds after coming on. He then volleyed one effort wide after getting into a promising goalscoring position in the box, crossed for fellow sub Neil Kengni whose overhead kick was spectacularly tipped over by Ashton keeper Jordan Eastham, before converting the eventual winner himself in the 65th minute. With three positive pieces of play in a little over ten minutes following his introduction, it’s fair to say that D’Mani played a fundamental part in the Silkmen’s victory.
Mellor’s headed goal came after a peach of a cross from the onrushing Tre Pemberton. As a finish it was unremarkable, but on second viewing it was apparent that Mellor showed a striker’s instinct to sneak in-between Ashton’s static centre halves and convert from point-blank range. D’Mani could have registered a second when getting free down the left wing, but he got caught between going for goal and looking to pick out a teammate which allowed Ashton to recover. But this was an all-action display from the forward who earned a resounding round of applause from the Silkmen faithful and manager Savage after he tracked back and won a tackle.
Mellor, who turns 24 later this week, was on Savage’s radar due to his Manchester United youth days. The Silkmen gaffer pointed out to me that he sees D’Mani as a striker or a ‘number 10’, and not as a winger where he has played the majority of his games so far for Wycombe, Rochdale and Hartlepool. It will be interesting to see how he fares for a team in a central role.
Does Danny Elliott need help, or need to help himself?
In my review of Macc’s 1-1 draw against Hyde, I questioned whether Sav was losing patience with Danny Elliott after he was substituted after 59 minutes for Tom Clare. The Silkmen gaffer refuted this suggestion and highlighted that Danny produced his most impressive performance of the campaign against Stockton (he was replaced with 20 minutes remaining by Courtney Duffus).
After hooking Elliott for the seventh time in eight matches this season, this time after just 54 minutes for new signing D’Mani Mellor, Sav praised Elliott for his contribution towards weakening the resistance of Ashton’s defence in his post-match interview. From my vantage point, the manager’s comments felt somewhat charitable towards a striker who has gone six games without a goal and seemed more of an attempt to maintain Elliott’s morale within a tight knit squad.
In the interests of balance, this was by no means a ‘bad’ performance by Elliott, but it wasn’t an effective one either. Other than a Brandon Lee cross in which he failed to get a clean connection on the ball to direct it goalwards, the former Scunthorpe striker was largely starved of service. And whatever your early view on Elliott is, you’d be hard pressed to accuse him of missing chances.
I previously felt Danny needed better supply from out wide and to play closer with attacking midfielder Alex Curran. I think that view still stands, but after seeing his replacement Mellor grab the game by the scruff of the neck it seems apparent that Elliott needs to do more to help himself. Certainly against Ashton there was a lack of movement from him, and too often his back was to goal rather than him trying to play on the defenders’ shoulder, run in behind or even take one of them on.
Upon landing the much sought after striker in the summer, it appeared that Elliott was a shoe-in to score 20+ goals for Macc at Step 3. Based on his current trajectory, such optimism needs to be tempered unless something changes soon.
The case for the defence
Much of the spotlight so far has focused on the Silkmen going forward, but title-winning triumphs are often built on the foundations of a stubborn defence. Ashton was Macc’s fourth 1-0 win in seven league games so far this season (the others being against Worksop, Prescot and Stockton) and represented the club’s third clean sheet in a row based on including the FA Cup qualifying victory at Tadcaster.
Macc’s defence is currently the second meanest in the Northern Premier League (after Worksop’s) and is arguably now at full-strength following the return to fitness of Brandon Lee and Sam Heathcote. Captain Paul Dawson, who has performed brilliantly since being switched to centre half alongside the similarly excellent Laurent Mendy (who was the standout player against Ashton), has reverted back to his midfield lynchpin role following the injuries to Elliott Whitehouse and Danny Whitehead. But with Lewis Fensome and Scott Holding (current on loan at Wythenshawe) waiting in the wings, Macc have solid cover at centre half.
Whilst at full-back, Tre Pemberton and Brandon Lee remain tremendous models of consistency, with Neil Kengni an able deputy at left-back. And last, but by no means least, new acquisition Max Dearnley finally looks to have solved the Silkmen’s goalkeeping headache after impressing early on with his shot-stopping, handling and general command of his penalty area. We appear to literally be in safe hands.
As Robbie Savage astutely observed in his post-match comments after Ashton, the slender margin of Macc’s wins this season inadvertently places extra pressure on our defence to be exemplary and not give anything away. So far the Silkmen’s rearguard are doing an outstanding job.
Proactive subs pay dividends for Savage
It’s early days, but we’re starting to see elements of Savage’s embryonic managerial style playing out before us. One interesting example is the Silkmen head coach’s use of the bench. In the nine games he’s presided over (up to and including Ashton) Sav is averaging four substitutions per match, and on three occasions he’s made the (five) maximum permitted number of subs (vs Guiseley, Tadcaster and Stockton).
Some might say ‘so what?’ given the strength of Macc’s enviable squad at this level. It’s hardly surprising too that we wouldn’t seek to take advantage of the Northern Premier League’s decision to allow clubs to make five subs for the first time from this season.
However it’s more the nature of Sav’s subs that is interesting, rather than the frequency of them. The Silkmen head coach has been proactive rather than reactive in introducing changes early from the bench. Examples include taking off Neil Kengni for Alex Curran at half-time versus Guiseley, Sam Heathcote for Curran against Hyde and latterly D’Mani Mellor for Danny Elliott after 54 minutes against Ashton. Savage also introduced Paul Dawson as one of three half-time subs against Tadcaster as the skipper bagged a second half hat-trick!
Of course, this represents a small sample size within the context of Macc’s unbeaten start to the season so far. Let’s see how Sav responds when the Silkmen are chasing a game or under the cosh.
Attendance figures drop, but why?
The Silkmen’s excellent start to the season suggests genuine cause for optimism after they climbed to the summit of the NPL by narrowly defeating Stockton. Macc’s football in the league hasn’t been pretty (so far), but it has been effective and, ultimately, promotion to the National League North is all that matters in what is a critical period in the reborn club’s history.
It’s somewhat disappointing then that Tuesday’s attendance was only 2,659. Based on comparing the crowds from Macc’s opening four league games this season compared to the opening four league games last season, attendances at the Leasing.com stadium have fallen by 18%. In both instances, the Silkmen played three weekend fixtures and one midweek game, although the 3,003 turnout vs Hyde was on August bank holiday Monday.
There are a few possible reasons for this:
· The hangover from Macc’s promotion play-off defeat to Marine (watched by over 5,000) has dampened the feel-good factor following two consecutive promotions and provided a dose of reality for some supporters
· England played Finland on the same date as Macc vs Ashton – some may have preferred to watch England from the comfort of their softas than watch the Silkmen on a chilly September evening
· The general lack of goals at home in the league so far
· Continued pressure on household spending due to high inflation and a sluggish UK economy
· Lingering anti-Savage sentiment from a handful of fans following the surprise departure of former boss Michael Clegg in the summer
To offer some perspective, Macclesfield’s attendances are comfortably the highest in the Northern Premier League. And based on our average attendances so far this season, the Silkmen would be averaging the third largest home-crowd if they were playing in the National League North (behind Scunthorpe and Hereford) and the sixth highest in the National League (after Southend, Oldham, York, Hartlepool and Yeovil).
So, the future of the club continues to look bright both on and off the pitch, but with promotion so vital this time around, more supporters through the turnstiles to help the Silkmen get over the line could make a huge difference come May.