FIRST HALF
Macclesfield Town continued there fine form with a 2-0
victory over relegation threatened Alfreton Town at the Moss Rose in front of
1,417 supporters.
The first goal came after 14 minutes from a solo run by
Scott Barrow, he was passed the ball by Paul Turnbull,
who ran approximately 70 yards and beat 5 or 6 men to slot the ball past
advancing goalkeeper Sam Johnson to finish off an amazing run.
After the restart, Alfreton didn’t really cause Macclesfield
any problems coming forward and you can see why Alfreton have struggled to
score goals this season.
The visitors did force the first corner of the match when
Dan Bradley’s cross was deflected behind, off Scott Barrow, the resulting
corner was punched clear by Macclesfield goalkeeper Rhys Taylor and the ball
fell to Chris Holroyd who was fouled and a free kick was given.
Alfreton’s best chance in the first half came to former
Carlisle frontman Karl Hawley who squeezed the ball past the Macclesfield
defender George Pilkington to hit a shot which was well saved by Rhys Taylor.
After 28 minutes Adriano Moke brought the ball forward and
instead of passing the ball to Waide Fairhurst or Matthew Barnes-homer, he
decided to have a shot himself which lacked enough power to test Johnson.
Alfreton then had another chance on goal shortly after,
where a volley from midfielder Tom Shaw was blocked by George Pilkington while
Rhys Taylor was still on the ground.
In the 44th minute the pace of Moke caused
problems as he chased a lost cause down the wing, but then couldn’t pick out
striker Fairhurst. Just before half-time Macclesfield had one more opportunity
where a defence splitting ball fell to the feet of Barnes-Homer, unfortunately,
the striker couldn’t get enough power behind the ball to make the keeper make a
decent save.
Half Time – Macclesfield Town 1 Alfreton Town 0
SECOND HALF
Alfreton came out in the second half and looked to have a
bit more about them, Karl Hawley went close to scoring 3 minutes in, when a
curled shot from the corner of the box went just wide of goal.
Moments later, Andy Halls had to be substituted following a
strong challenge by an Alfreton player and looked in a lot of pain after he
stayed down, Alfreton decided to play on and wait for the referee’s whistle,
only for Macclesfield midfielder Danny Whitaker to be yellow carded for a
lunging challenge, Andy Halls replacement was Alex Grant.
On the hour mark Macclesfield best chance came after Waide
Fairhurst spread the ball to Chris Holroyd, who cut inside and hit a left
footed shot which went inches wide. Two minutes later Macclesfield went close
again when Barnes-Homer picked up a pass from Moke only to have his shot
deflected out for a corner kick.
The Silkmen missed a golden opportunity to increase their
lead on 68 minutes when Paul Turnbull took a quick throw in to Fairhurst, who
beat his man only for Barnes-Homer to miss from 12 yards.
As the match entered its final 10 minutes, Macclesfield was
pressing and trying to find that precious 2nd goal to put the game
to bed.
Alfreton came forward in the 82nd minute when the home
defence struggled to clear an Anthony Howell corner, the ball did fall to
Daniel Bradley who couldn’t keep his shot down.
In the 85th minute, Macclesfield made the points
safe in fortuitous circumstances, as the Alfreton defence tried to clear the
ball only for it to be deflected off a team mate and fall at the feet of
striker Waide Fairhurst, for him to slot the ball passed the out rushing keeper
Sam Johnson.
- Chris Hulme
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