da bwin：
da doce： It wasn’t supposed to be like this! The enforced break not only offered recuperation from the litany of injuries, but also the chance to restart the season and put the poor run behind us. Sean Brisley was playing his last game in a Macc shirt – surely he was set to power home a last minute winner. I could have put something about how he was at the ‘heart’ of the defence, ‘rose’ to the ball – victory and a stream of Valentine’s Day puns, this blog would write itself.
Sadly this was not to be, a one nil loss left those that had journeyed from Cheshire broken-hearted and means the run of defeats bridges the gap between games and means that the misery continues unbroken.
Post-match Gary Simpson was once again left bemoaning our luck, or rather lack of. And while there is no denying that lady luck has been an all too infrequent visitor to Macclesfield in the past few months, how much was bad luck to blame for the latest defeat?
There was certainly misfortune if you look at frenetic end to the match which saw Diagne agonisingly rattle the inside of the post and Mendy strike the same upright in the dying seconds. You might add the fortuitous rebound for Carlton’s goal. Even the missed chances for Hamshaw and Donnelley could, and should, have given us a different game. However this somewhat glosses over a poor second half display which saw the Silkmen fail to compete and the home side spurn a host of their own gilt-edged chances – Phil Jevons missing when it looked easier to find a cure for cancer, being particularly astounding. In the middle of the park Mendy struggled and Kay, whilst by no means awful, failed to impose himself before being taken off. The team was in no way lacking in effort, but in terms of execution they were too often found wanting.
Despite the welcome returns of several players to fitness, the likes of Draper and especially Chalmers (his absence almost exactly follows our bad run) are still sorely missed. Mattis may be the answer to this, certainly his pedigree promises much, but the information on his injury seems to get worse every week and his own return date is persistently pushed back. Central midfield looks to be a real weak point at the moment and one that desperately needs a solution ahead of the forthcoming battles.
Justifiably there is now serious concern about where this season is going. My personal optimism that had built up over the last two weeks has taken a major blow and the players’ morale likely to similarly suffer. Now only six points above the drop, Gary Simpson has admitted that Macc are now “in a dogfight” at the wrong end of the table, and it’s difficult to disagree. I still believe we have a squad capable of a mid-table finish and trust in Simmo as the man to turn things around, but this continued slide down the league is gathering momentum and it is looking increasingly difficult to halt.
The next few weeks sees games come thick and fast and Simmo needs to find a way to lift his players after this latest setback. Of course the loan option is there to add to the squad – there is an experienced replacement lined up for Brisley – but he also needs find a way to make the players at his disposal into a more effective unit. With pitches deteriorating rapidly after recent conditions things could get ugly from here on in – but if that is the price to pay to stop a disappointing season becoming a disastrous one then so be it.
By Macclesfield blogger Alastair Pattrick
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