Silkmen Season Review

for Macclesfield Town as they confounded the pundits and the bookies who had them favourites for relegation. But as the season rolled on, it was the top of the Coca-Cola League Two that graced the presence of the Silkmen of Macclesfield Town.

Early Doors

After a close season reshape to the squad: out had gone Chris Priest, Karl Munroe, George Abbey, David Smith and eight others and in had come Tommy Rooney, Joey Jones, Neil Morgan, Michael Briscoe, Mark Bailey, Alan Fettis and Tony Barras, it was time for a pre-season tour of Scotland. After a 3-3 draw with Clyde, Dumbarton were well beaten 4-0. The home friendlies featured a good 0-0 draw with Derby County and a disappointing 0-1 defeat to Huddersfield Town and then it was time for the start of the serious stuff as the renamed Coca-Cola League Two kicked off.

Unusually, the season started with an away trip for the Silkmen, and it was off to one of the club's bogie grounds, Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium. The O's were well beaten on a hot day in East London. Fittingly it was the previous season’s Goal King Matt Tipton who opened the scoring before big Jon Parkin got a pair and the Macc Lads ran out 3-1 winners. The good run continued with home wins against Shrewsbury Town (the return to the Moss Rose for Darren Tinson) and Swansea City. Nine points out of nine put the Silkmen on top of Coca-Cola League Two and a feeling of confidence went around the ground. Would it continue or would things go pear shaped?

Head To Head: Jon Parkin and Southend's Spencer Prior

Reality Bites

Next it was a trip to Boston and the 100% record went as the Macc lads were held to a 1-1 draw with Jon Parkin making it five goals out of four games. Next it was a top of the table clash at the Moss Rose with Scunthorpe United and a late Matt Tipton penalty evened things up to 2-2. The following Bank Holiday Monday it was down to Essex and another of the Silkmen's bogie grounds, Roots Hall home of bottom of the table Southend United. Would it be an easy three points for the rampant team? This being the Silkmen it was the first defeat of the season going down 1-2. Chester City replaced Southend at the bottom of the League and a trip to the Deva Stadium was next. A disappointing game was topped when the home side scored a disputed goal in the 93rd minute taking the points on Ian Rush's home managerial debut.

Michael Briscoe and Chester's Cortez Belle

After the two away defeats to teams at the bottom of the table, the home game against Grimsby Town was going the same way, when Brian Horton put on subs Paul Harsley and John Miles. Both went on to score as the Silkmen turned the game around. Next was away at Kidderminster Harriers, another team at the bottom of the League and it was another difficult defeat to take as the Macc Lads played well but Tipton missed a penalty, and then the Harriers were also awarded a penalty for an incident that was yards outside the area. The Harriers scored to take the win.

Macc got back to winning ways, beating Darlington with a Mark Bailey goal. Then it was more disappointing defeats away at Bury and at home to Notts County with the visitors getting back into the game from an advantage given to them by the referee. With the club in 10^th place, six points off the top of the table. Silkmen fans were left feeling that the team just wasn't strong enough for a promotion challenge, but conversely the points lost in controversial and unfortunate circumstances could have put the club at the top of the League.