Match report

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Macclesfield 2 Swansea City 1 - Report by Dave Williams



A must win match for both sides? No, it was clear for 75 minutes that only one of these teams believed they had something to play for.

Swans lined up pretty much as expected with Murphy retaining his place in goal with Byrne right and Johnrose left either side of Tate & Izzy in front of him. Midfield consisted of Roberts, Britton, Martinez and Robinson with the newly formed partnership of Nugent & Connor up front.

As you would expect of a team fighting for it's league status, The Silkmen went for the jugular straight from the whistle and almost immediately, Johnrose underhit a simple backpass to Murphy which caused a moment of panic but he redeemed himself half a minute later with a thumping tackle on Carruthers as he headed dangerously into the box from the right. Macc forced three early corners in quick succession, the last of these ending with a long range shot which thankfully fizzed wide. One of the most notable features of these early exchanges was the number of times Murphy kick outs went straight down to the Macc keeper without a Swansea player getting anywhere near. Macc maintained their early pressure and when Johnrose got sucked into the centre, they played the ball out wide right to Carruthers in acres of space. If we'd had a wide left midfield player, chances are he would have tracked back to cover this possibility but, as we all know, we don't use them. With the defence asleep, he easily picked out Tipton's burst towards goal and gave him the simplest of tap ins from about 6 yards. So, 7 minutes gone and we were behind to the team in 21st position, although up until this point you would have been forgiven for thinking the team in 21st postion was wearing black.

Strangely, with Swansea in disarray, at this point Macclesfield took their foot of the gas and we started to get our game together playing some good passing football. Martinez was starting to wrest some control but Leon in particular was looking lively and a threaded pass from him picked out Stuart Roberts cutting in from the right. His angled shot resulted in a corner which was only partially cleared as far as Martinez who shot into the side netting from a difficult angle. Macclesfield were being put under pressure and looked like a team feeling the additional pressure of being in one of the relegation positions who would quickly turn to panic, a situation we know only too well. As the Swans at last got into second gear, Macc's edginess was soon evident by the cynical way in which Stuart Roberts was chopped down in full flight resulting in the first booking and a later fracas in front of the dugouts which suprisingly seemed to end with no bookings. With 20 minutes on the clock, Robinson cut in from the left to the corner of the box and unleashed a right footed thunderbolt just inside the near post which the keeper did well to push for a corner. Shortly after, Connor, who had been totally invisible up until this point, then tried a right footed curler from about the same position but it didn't trouble the keeper and cleared the bar. Late on, Tipton tried to chip Murphy and a goal looked certain in the ensuing scramble but somehow the ball stayed out and then Martinez was just wide with a 30 yarder. With the first half drawing to a close, the Macc keeper flapped at a cross from the left and a combination of heads just succeeded in pushing the ball over the keeper towards the unmanned goal line. Two Macc defenders dithered and looked like they were leaving it to each other until one took responsibility and hacked it clear. Any challenge from a Swans player would have been enough to force it over the line. Just before half time Izzy went down for a long time in our penalty area and required treatment but limped on for the remaining few minutes. So a poor opening 10 minutes from the Swans but as the half progressed we had the better chances, played the better football and looked capable of getting back into the game.

The second half started where the first had left off and with about 7 minutes gone, a sublime six man, one touch pinball move up our right ended with Nugent smacking an angled volley across the goal with which the keeper would have struggled had it not been a foot or so wide of his right hand post. Izzy had started the second half but it was clear he was still struggling from his earlier injury and was soon replaced by Stuart Jones. Swansea then won a flurry of corners but from the last of these, Tipton raced clear but as the Swansea defenders caught up with hime, he had no Macc player in support anywhere near him and it came to nothing. With an hour gone, Maylett came on for Roberts who looked to be tiring. Within minutes, the ball went out near the half way line for what looked to me a clear Swansea throw. Byrne retrieved the ball but as he turned to take the throw in, the giant Parkin, who had played most of the match like a school bully, blocked his path and tried to snatch the ball from him. As happens frequently in any match, Byrne pushed him away for which he was astonishingly shown a straight red card by the referee who wasn't exactly close to the incident. I wonder if Flynn can get this on video as well as last Saturday's Murphy sending off. Somehow, the referee then allowed Macclesfield to take the throw in and from this, the ball eventually found its way into the Swans penalty area where, for once, there seemed to be dozens of Macc players. When the ball broke to Harsley on the right close to the goal line, he hit a shot from a very tight angle high into the roof of the net for 2-0.

Maybe it was the injustice of the red card, but from this point, the Swans woke up and looked like they really wanted to win this game for the first time. A superb 50 yard cross-field pass from Martinez found Maylett cutting in from the right. His fresh legs got him to the ball before his surprised marker and he chested the ball into space beyond him before unleasing an unstoppable volley past the Macc keeper's right hand from about 25 yards. 2-1 and with 15 minutes left, it looked like we could scrape another draw. Britton jinked into the area and had a vicious shot deflected for a corner. Robinson tried with a good long range effort and then Leon again had another equally vicious shot blocked for yet another corner. With the 10-man Swans pushing up, applying the sort of pressure Macc did in the first 10 minutes, a sudden breakaway gave Macc a 1-on-1 with Murphy. It looked like a certain killer goal but Murphy got it right and blocked the shot. Moments later, the Swans fans held their collective breath as Murphy raced out to foil another breakaway which took him well out of his area as he charged down a shot. Fortunately. the ref signalled that he had used his chest and he escaped a second successive red card. I think he was very lucky that the ball hit his chest as it could just as easily have hit his arm and he would probably have gone.

When the announcer advised the crowd that there would be 4 minutes extra, you could hear the enormous moan from the tense Macc fans. Their side were definitely under the cosh but desperately wanted to hold onto the 3 points which might help them to safety. We know exactly how they felt and their relief when the final whistle went was tangible.

In summary, the Swans played like a team who already knew their play-off chance had already gone despite the fact that a win would clearly have kept it alive. This attitude created quite a lot of anger amongst the 140 or so Jacks who turned up who clearly believed that, however slim, our play-off chances still existed. Well, now they don't. Had we started with and maintained anything like the verve we showed in the last 15 minutes, we would probably have won this game quite comfortably. Macclesfield gave it everything but they are not a good side and it was obvious why they had slumped to 21st in the table. The truth was, they desperately wanted to win, we didn't. They were understandably edgy and I'm sure they would have cracked under any sort of concerted pressure from a much better footballing side. At times, we showed how much better than them we could be if we wanted to but for the majority of the game we just didn't. In the end, we had more shots and more corners but didn't capitalise.

Performances:

Murphy: 5 - had very few actual saves to make. Kept us in it late on when we were stretched at the back but will always give you a few very anxious moments every game.

Byrne: 5 - nothing special today but unlucky to be sent off when a booking would have done.

Tate: 8 - MOM, solid and composed and won everything within his reach, he must wonder why he was so keen to come back

Izzy: 6 - didn't do much wrong and looked solid until he went off

Johnrose: 5 - with no-one in front of him, he suffered from the usual Swans left back syndrome. Looked better when he pushed forward and won some good headers at corners, but then he isn't a left back is he?

Roberts: 5 - lively in first half but faded in second. We are unlikely to see him at his best this season.

Britton: 6 - could probably beat all the opposing players in one dribble. Unfortunately, he tries to when there are better options available. At one point, he beat 3 players and with Connor standing in acres of space and screaming on the left touchline, he tried to beat them all again. Looked a serious attacking threat late on and that hasn't happened often enough this season.

Martinez: 7 - still not at his best but once we had some control, he was involved in everything.

Robinson: 5 - tried hard as always but looked tired and not the dynamo of earlier in the season

Nugent: 5 - started to win headers in the second half and like his team mates, found an extra yard in the last 15 minutes.

Connor: 3 - I don't want to judge him on one appearance, but was barely involved and needn't have turned up. Almost anyone on the bench (including Roger) would have been a better option. A passenger.

Finally, it was quite amusing to hear the announcer at half time saying how magnificent the Macc vocal support had been during the first half. I wonder what he'd have thought at a proper football match.

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