Silkmen Beaten 4-1 by Spirites

Macclesfield Town’s hope’s for anything from the game at Saltergate were well and truly killed off by half time as Chesterfield hit four goals in the opening 45 minutes.

Despite an improved second half performance, the Silkmen were never going to get anything out of the game.

The match started badly as Small scored with just two minutes on the clock. With a fellow front-man clearly offside, but ‘not interfering with play’ according to the ridiculous current offside law, he latched on to a through-ball and slotted past Veiga.

Jack Lester somehow found a gap in the Silkmen defence to poke home after a corner after 32 minutes and Lowry hit a third when a clearance only found him on the edge of the area.

With the half coming to an end, McDrmott curled a shot in at the far post after being left in acres of space.

The Silkmen made two changes before half time, bringing Rooney and Sinclair on for Bell and Daniel, and later replaced Ricky Sappleton with Ben Wright.

The last was the mose useful change as Wright was involved in the Silkmen’s consolation goal five minutes after coming on. His knockdown sent away Matty Tipton, who found Hamza with a neat through-ball.

Advancing into the box, Bencherif slotted the ball past the advancing ‘keeper, but it would be no more than a consolation in a game where the Silkmen conceded four, but still classed Jose Veiga as one of the best performers.

A vast improvement is needed next weekend as the Blues face third-from-bottom Torquay.