My ‘glass half-empty’ review of Macc’s defeat to Buxton at the weekend may have been premature for a pre-season friendly. So I was determined to be more upbeat for the Silkmen’s latest pre-season jaunt to Wythenshawe on a basking Tuesday evening.
This was made more challenging when Macc trailed 2-0 after 63 minutes to a team newly promoted to a league below, who changed the majority of their starting eleven at half-time. But fear not. A sprinkling of Luke Duffy magic and a leveller six-minutes from time from Kielen Adams capped a rousing fightback, sparing the blushes of new manager Robbie Savage who was rewarded for some tactical tinkering.
The good
· Friendly or not, any team that rallies from 2-0 down to draw with 20 minutes remaining has to have character. The players’ heads dropped when falling behind against Buxton, but last night they rolled their sleeves up and hauled themselves back into it against lively opponents. Depending on which side of the fence you sit on, is it a positive or negative that Macc have come from behind in four of their six pre-season fixtures thus far?
· Switching wide players Justin Johnson and Kielen Adams paid dividends. Savage started with JJ on the right and Kielen on the left in a 4-2-3-1 formation but made them swap after 20 minutes. Johnson almost gave the Silkmen the lead when cutting inside and smashing a howitzer against the woodwork. He later spurned a golden opportunity on the stroke of half-time, intercepting a loose pass from a home defender only to shoot meekly at the keeper.
Adams, meanwhile, completed 90 minutes for the first time in pre-season which will have done his fitness the world of good. He plugged away on the right flank and showed good concentration to head home from a deep John Rooney cross which was missed by the onrushing Wythenshawe keeper for Macc’s equalizer.
· We played on grass, which without clutching at straws, may be the biggest positive of the night. All of the Silkmen’s friendlies have been on 4G, but the players must contend with all manner of artificial and natural playing surfaces in the Northern Premier League. Wythenshawe’s Ericstan Stadium pitch wasn’t the smoothest, with the ball less zippy compared to the Leasing.com’s 4G surface. Macc struggled to retain possession for the first 30 minutes until they eventually settled down and put together some short passing moves. As they became more comfortable on grass, ironically this may have coincided with them conceding a cheap goal for the home side’s opener – more on that below.
· Trialist no.2, who completed 78 minutes at right back in place of the rested Tre Pemberton, caught the eye. Eagle-eyed supporter Rob Vernon on the Macclesfield FC Fan Facebook page has identified him as Macclesfield International Academy prospect, Jefferson Abreu.
In the continued absence of Sam Heathcote and Brandon Lee, Macc are down to the bare bones at the back despite the capture of centre back Scott Holding (who himself has missed our last three games).
The tall and rangy Abreu did himself no harm. Decent in the air and willing to get forward, he also snuck out a long leg to make a brilliant sliding tackle from behind to regain possession when a Wythenshawe midfielder attempted to break forward. The only blot on the youngster’s copybook is that he lost a Wythenshawe striker in the box in the second half who fortunately glanced his header wide right in front of goal.
Trialist no.3, who also played 78 minutes at left-back, is Basit Yusuff, another member of Macc’s International Academy who was steady, if unspectacular.
The bad
· Macc shipped two goals for the third game running, and yet again, they were given away cheaply. The first was a pre-season special. Unnecessary faffing about at the back between Fensome, Mendy and Elliott Whitehouse saw Macc pass on three opportunities to clear their lines. This culminated in Whitehouse playing a short pass to Max Dearnley in the six-yard box. Dearnley tried to launch the ball upfield, but instead found the boot of a home attacker chasing down and the ball ricocheted into the net. Ouch. Whitehouse pointed to the full-back area as if to suggest where Dearnley should have passed it to, however Macc’s embarrassed keeper was given a millisecond to make his mind up and should never have been placed under needless pressure.
Wythenshawe’s second was less calamitous from Macc’s perspective, although once again our vulnerability to balls over the top was highlighted. The opposition attacker got in behind Paul Dawson on the right wing but still had much to do. Tom Scott, on for Dearnley between the sticks, made his made up though by guarding his near post so tightly that almost the entirety of the goal presented itself. The Wythenshawe player needed no invitation and lashed the ball into the bottom corner to double their lead. An excellent finish, but Scott may question whether he got his angles right when watching it back.
Macc were somewhat fortunate to only concede two. It could have been three had Dawson not cleared a shot off the line at 2-1. Wythenshawe also missed a sitter when heading wide, unmarked from two-yards out, and fired narrowly wide in an almost carbon copy move of their second goal.
Luke Duffy
· If you want my ‘2p’ on who my money is going on to be Macc’s most influential player this season, it’s Luke Duffy. ‘Duffs’ was overshadowed by the likes of Curran, Rooney and Kane Drummond in the previous campaign, but clearly is an incredible talent with more to give. And he’s looked bang at it in pre-season.
His through ball for Alex Curran’s equalizer against TNS was threaded with pinpoint accuracy. Against Rochdale he won the penalty which John Rooney converted, before going on to start and finish a delicious move with some sublime skill which led to him despatching Neil Kenghi’s cross to draw Macc level.
At Wythenshawe he went one better. Picking up the ball 35 yards out he shimmied past a midfielder, spotted the keeper off his line and curled in an absolutely beauty into the top corner with his right foot. Will we see a better a goal all season, and if we do, how likely is it that Duffy will score it?
In the absence of Drummond and Owolabi, Macc need players to find extra gears to spearhead our promotion assault. This could well be Duffy’s time to stand out from the crowd.
