Macclesfield v Torquay United

[Dave]

So that's the F.A Trophy done and dusted for another season after yesterdays defeat at the hands of Bognor Regis, there will always be two schools of thought as far as the Trophy is concerned, yes the prize money and keeping the momentum going was important, however keeping our National league status has to take priory over everything.

The squad must recover quickly as they travel to Moss Rose Tuesday night for the next instalment in the Great Escape, hopefully. Macclesfield are a team we've come to know well this season, this coming Tuesday will be the 4th meeting of the two sides this season, from the opening day of the season which ended in a 1.0 win for The Gulls, moving to the draw at Plainmoor in the F.A Trophy followed by another win by the odd goal for Torquay in the replay.

The Silkmen looked an outside bet for the play-off's, with 10 wins from 15 games through October-November and December, however a recent poor run of form have seen them slip back into the midtable, currently sat 12th on 48 points, safe from relegation and maybe to far behind to push for the play-off's now.

For Gulls fans attending the match

http://www.mtfc.co.uk/club/the-moss-rose/

Macclesfield top goalscorers

Kristian Dennis 22
Danny Whitaker 6
Paul Lewis 4
Reece Styche 4
Danny Whitehead 4
James Phillips 3
Danny M. Rowe 3
Neill Byrne 2
Tony Diagne 2
Jack Sampson 2
Chris Holroyd 1
Paul Turnbull 1

Current form

Macclesfield Town; W-L-L-L-L-D

2 Jan Tranmere 0 - 1 Macclesfield
9 Jan Macclesfield 0 - 1 Halifax Town
23 Jan Macclesfield 0 - 2 Aldershot To.
30 Jan Forest Green 2 - 1 Macclesfield
13 Feb Kidderminster 3 - 1 Macclesfield
27 Feb Macclesfield 0 - 0 Wrexham

Last time out

Macclesfield 0 - 0 Wrexham

Jalal
Halls
Pilkington
Holroyd
Fitzpatrick
Byrne(Diagne 76'minutes)
Turnbull
Whitaker
Whitehead(Styche 85'minutes)
Sampson Booked at 62mins(Phillips 82'minutes)
Dennis

Substitutes
Branagan
Diagne
Styche
Sutherland
Phillips

Macclesfield Town manager John Askey insists his team’s season is far from over


“There is still a lot to play for and that’s what I said to the players,” he said.

“Despite everything that’s happened, we’re seven points off the play-offs, so if we manage to get a win on Saturday then it changes for them.

“We have got to realise there is plenty to fight for still, we’ve got a fight on our hands because at the moment we’re struggling to play but when we do get the ball down we play well.

“It’s difficult at the moment and it’s not nice, we have to pick ourselves up and keep battling because there’s nothing better than playing football.”

“They’ve got to show plenty of spirit and enthusiasm and show people what they can do,” he said.

“When you don’t do well people start to criticise but when you do well those people are silent.

“We’ve had enough praise, you have to accept when you’re not getting praise. It’s tough at the moment but we can turn it around.”

“The problem is people can’t defend the crosses, but we work on it and keep working on it and training,” he said.

“When you let people run free then they’re going to score eventually, there was two occasions where we let them go against Torquay and one they nearly scored and the other they did.

“There was one or two chances for us, but at the other end, we’re not defending well enough or attacking them well enough and it’s a big problem for us.

“From open play we’re fine but set pieces are our Achilles’ heel.”

From a Torquay United point of view

With all the cup-tied players available, apart from MacDonald who I believe will be suspended and long term injured Luke Young, Nicho should be able to pick, pretty much the same team that beat Welling Untied at home in our last league game, every game now is a cup final as we know, it's going to be about managing the squad giving them as much rest time as possible with a hectic run of upcoming fixtures.

This is going to be about managing the pressure too, our squad are under extreme pressure right now, with our last two fixtures won, the margin for error has increased, but not by much, the hope here is, away from home, away from 1,700 home fans picking holes in everything they do, the team can play with a little more freedom.

The fact that Macclesfield are 12th and at home, we can't expect to win this game, for me this game is a "must not lose" a draw from this will be ok, a win, would be massive in our hope for survival.

Other important fixtures Tuesday;

Barrow v Boreham Wood
Bromley v Welling
Braintree v Kidderminster
Dover v Southport

As I believe any team on 39 points or less at the moment are not safe from the drop.

Torquay United top goalscorers

Dan Butler 2
Andre Wright 2
Nathan Blissett 2
Toby Ajala 1
Durrell Berry 1
Josh Carmichael 1
Exodus Geohaghon 1
Shaun Harrad 1
Angus MacDonald 1
Courtney Richards 1
Aman Verma 1

Current form

(not including Trophy match's)

Torquay United; L-L-L-L-W-W

28 Dec Cheltenham 1 - 0 Torquay Utd
1 Jan Forest Green 3 - 1 Torquay Utd
23 Jan Torquay Utd 0 - 2 Gateshead
30 Jan Tranmere 2 - 1 Torquay Utd
20 Feb Boreham Wood 0 - 1 Torquay Utd
23 Feb Torquay Utd 2 - 0 Welling Utd

Last time out

Torquay Utd 2 - 0 Welling Utd

Lavercombe
Berry Booked at 47mins
MacDonald
Richards
Butler
Smith
Ajala(Allen 59'minutes)
Racchi Booked at 87mins
Rees
Harrad Booked at 55mins(Verma 82'minutes)
Blissett (Chaney 90+1'minutes)

Substitutes
Allen
Chaney
Gerring
Verma
Corderoy

Player-manager on FA Trophy exit



“The performance was not good enough,” he said. “The better team won in the end.

“We had a couple of early chances to settle us down, which we didn’t take, and we looked nervous for some reason.

“We were missing a few players that have done well for us in the League, but it was a chance for others to step up to the plate and show what they are capable of.

“There are no excuses; this team should have been good enough to win the game and go through.

“We weren’t sharp enough, we didn’t work hard enough and we gave our hosts every encouragement.

“It’s a case of making sure that we pick ourselves up quickly and be ready to go again on Tuesday when the battle for vital League points resumes at Macclesfield.

“The away following was superb again today and we need this kind of backing.”

Read more at http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... XTHHY5Z.99

Head to Head meetings


08/08/2015 Torquay United 1 (0) - (0) 0 Macclesfield Town

2014/2015 English Conference

25/04/2015 Torquay United 1 (1) - (0) 1 Macclesfield Town
25/11/2014 Macclesfield Town 1 (0) - (0) 0 Torquay United

2011/2012 English League Two

14/01/2012 Macclesfield Town 1 (0) - (0) 2 Torquay United
03/09/2011 Torquay United 3 (0) - (0) 0 Macclesfield Town

2010/2011 English League Two

19/03/2011 Macclesfield Town 3 (2) - (0) 3 Torquay United
25/09/2010 Torquay United 1 (1) - (1) 3 Macclesfield Town

2009/2010 English League Two

24/04/2010 Torquay United 1 (0) - (0) 0 Macclesfield Town
26/09/2009 Macclesfield Town 2 (0) - (0) 1 Torquay United

2006/2007 English League Two

30/12/2006 Torquay United 0 (0) - (0) 1 Macclesfield Town
23/09/2006 Macclesfield Town 3 (1) - (1) 3 Torquay United

2005/2006 English League Two

17/04/2006 Macclesfield Town 0 (0) - (0) 2 Torquay United
22/10/2005 Torquay United 1 (0) - (0) 1 Macclesfield Town

2003/2004 English League Two

24/01/2004 Torquay United 4 (3) - (1) 1 Macclesfield Town
23/08/2003 Macclesfield Town 1 (1) - (0) 1 Torquay United

2002/2003 English League Two

12/04/2003 Torquay United 2 (1) - (2) 2 Macclesfield Town
23/11/2002 Macclesfield Town 3 (1) - (3) 3 Torquay United

2001/2002 English League Two

16/03/2002 Macclesfield Town 0 (0) - (1) 2 Torquay United
01/12/2001 Torquay United 1 (1) - (1) 2 Macclesfield Town

2000/2001 English League Two

10/04/2001 Torquay United 2 (1) - (0) 0 Macclesfield Town
17/10/2000 Macclesfield Town 2 (1) - (1) 1 Torquay United

1999/2000 English League Two

24/04/2000 Torquay United 3 - 2 Macclesfield Town
02/10/1999 Macclesfield Town 1 - 2 Torquay United

1997/1998 English League Two

10/01/1998 Torquay United 2 - 0 Macclesfield Town
09/08/1997 Macclesfield Town 2 - 1 Torquay United

[Kit_robin]

Macdonald isn't suspended as he's on 13 bookings. Give it a couple games!

Another must win,, after the last two must wins. Win this and we have another must win on Saturday.

We have a bad run of four games against decent opposition in April, so in my opinion we need to take these next six points.

[wivelgull]

Losing to Bognor was the last straw, so:
Macclesfield (2)5
TUFC (0) 1

Att: 996

[SuperNickyWroe]

Losing to Bognor was the last straw, so:
Macclesfield (2)5
TUFC (0) 1

Att: 996

Great OP again Dave......

Well that's great optimism Drivelgull. Did Brucie tell you to post that?

Hope to be there with other brave souls!!!

COYY!!

[happytorq]

Losing to Bognor was the last straw, so:
Macclesfield (2)5
TUFC (0) 1

Att: 996

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

[tomogull]

Losing to Bognor was the last straw, so:
Macclesfield (2)5
TUFC (0) 1 Att: 996

Ha - just because Whitby lost at home to someone called Rushall Olympics and are now back in the relegation places, there's no need to be grouchy !!

[markypoos77]

great opening post - remember that 3-3 away match in 2002 like it was yesterday - 3 nil up within about 20 minutes and blew it! remember watching the scores on ceefax on my tiny tv, sure woozley scored our first that day...

[midtable]

We beat Macclesfield away on the 16th Feb in the trophy, so we must have very good chances. The cup tied players are of course a lot better than those who were so dismal against part-timers Bognor. I would be confident about getting at least a point and Nico will do the right thing and drop himself for Butler who is always outstanding at left-back.

[Kernowgull]

great opening post - remember that 3-3 away match in 2002 like it was yesterday - 3 nil up within about 20 minutes and blew it! remember watching the scores on ceefax on my tiny tv, sure woozley scored our first that day...

I was there, we were scintillating for 20 mins, the diabolical for 70. Jason fowler scored a magnificent goal. I've been to Macc twice. 3 all both times.

[Foxhole]

Macclesfield 1

Torquay 2

Attendance 1137

[Admiral]

In all fairness a draw away from home after two wins would probably be a good result.

2-2
Wright
Berry

[northlondongull]

Macclesfield 1 (Dennis)
Torquay 3 (Harrad, Smith, Blissett)

[torq2u]

If Smith scores tonight, he WILL be our leading scorer, way out in front of the rest

[DJ Gull]

A scrappy 1-0 win for us will do just fine!

Iffy Allen to score.

[Tarrboy1]

If I can get out of work on time, I'll be there to watch us win 2-1. COYY