MATCH PREVIEW: The Champions are odds-on favourites
Reds travel to Macclesfield to take on the NPL Premier Division Champions on Saturday (3pm), knowing that defeat is the most likely outcome.
History, form and plain commonsense suggests that Macclesfield will maintain their impressive sequence of results against Workington, despite the fact Macc were crowned champions a fortnight ago.
Some would argue that Reds’ task of even scoring a goal against Robbie Savage’s title winners has diminished since they completed the job against Bamber Bridge with Magnificent Macc now focused on two other targets. They are hell-bent on achieving 100 league goals and 100 points to round of an incredible season and are tantalisingly close to both.
And, although they cannot achieve a century of league points until next week at the earliest, they could net their one hundredth goal on Saturday……….surely not!
After a nervous performance against Bamber Bridge which they eventually won to land the title, a more relaxed Macc demonstrated how ruthless they intend to be over the last month of the campaign with a five-star performance at Blyth Spartans last week.
Workington are next in the firing line and if we turn-up at the Leasing.com Stadium with the same attitude we showed at Basford, it could be a torrid afternoon. However, if we can replicate the fortitude and character displayed in last week’s performance at Borough Park, we might just give the champions a run for their money.
Macclesfield are now unbeaten in the league for three months, a run stretching over twelve matches with seven of eleven wins in that impressive sequence recorded in their last seven outings. Their goal difference of 66 is more than most teams (Worksop Town the exception) have scored this season.
In three seasons of NPL football since their re-birth, Macc have lost 18 matches – just one more than Reds’ number of league defeats this season. Eleven of those losses came last term when they had to play second fiddle to Radcliffe and were eventually beaten in the play-offs by Marine.
To then bounce back like they have this season and dominate from start to finish is quite an incredible achievement.
Reds have only won once in the league on their patch, back in the ’81-82 season, in the days when the Silkmen were Macclesfield Town but our record against the new ‘Macc’ shows just one draw and four defeats from five previous encounters.
With Alex Mitchell close to a return, Mark Fell will have a near full squad at his disposal with top scorer, Steven Rigg, the only notable absentee as he serves the second of his three match suspension.
Back in November, Luke Duffy’s stoppage time winner gave Macc the points at Borough Park but Reds gave a great account of themselves on the day and were a touch unlucky not to take something from the game.
