AFC Liverpool v Macclesfield, Clashes of 2021/22

Home Match: 9th November 2021.

Away Match: 4th April 2022.

The home game in November was a night that we hoped could have seen us break our attendance record of 604 against Wigan Robin Park.  As it was, we had to make do with 413. When Steve Fraser and I left the turnstile to arrive in the stand, Macc got a penalty. It was such a soft one to concede as Steve said, and duly despatched.

Macclesfield looked quicker to the ball. As a side that had been assembled on a budget most North West counties league teams could only dream of, the fear was there that it was going to be a long hard night. In the turnstile, Steve feared Macc would be out of sight by half time.

Although Macclesfield did have one or two half chances, there weren't that many clear cut chances. With a couple of minutes of the first half to go I commented to Steve that it would be set pieces that would probably give us our best chance. No sooner had I spoke, Jesse Dowling was clean through and beat ex-FC United of Manchester Keeper Sam Ashton only to be denied by the post.

Steve and I went into the board room at half time. Macclesfield's Director of Football Robbie Savage was on the next table. He was talking to other club officials about forms that needed to be filled in over some player they were looking to sign. Apparently Mr Savage came to the match in a Rolls Royce. At least that was what Steve heard. 

After the break, we stayed in the game. It was frustrating that the referee did not appear to be treating both teams even handedly with his use of the yellow card. There was one terrible foul on Kyle Schorah that went unpunished. There was another foul on one of our defenders which he blew up for, when he could have played an advantage to us. That foul went unpunished as well. As for us, Sonny Parr and one of our centre-halves went into the book for nothing which was worse than their misdemeanors.

The Reds did force a few saves from Sam Ashton in the second half, but he was always well positioned. Macclesfield did score again on 74 minutes following a good move down the right which got in behind our defence. The ball was crossed and Laurent Mendy had a simple tap in as I recall.

It was certainly felt that we had done enough not to lose by more than two. Deep into injury time Jesse Dowling got played in. He crossed for Billy "Whiz" McCartney to slot in. Unfortunately, after the restart we had little time to attack again. The whistle was almost instant and we lost by the one-goal margin.

After an injury hit season so far at that point, Anthony Lyons (who came off the bench) looked a bit sharper than previous appearances, and had forced at least one save from the Macc Keeper. Could it be that he was ready to finally get a run in the side again? I asked one or two people for their opinion later on, and the consensus seemed to suggest he was ready for another run in the side. Overall, against a team who had massive financial backing, we did ok. 

As predicted Macclesfield did eventually win the league in a canter. Although they did have to overcome a spirited challenge from Skelmersdale which later faded. In fact when Skem travelled to Macc in late January our Chairman Chris Stirrup was predicting that defeat for Macc could have meant the chop for Manager Danny Whittaker. Macc did though win 3-1 that day.

When we travelled to Macclesfield for the final day of the season, we were all hopeful of maybe spoiling the Macclesfield promotion party in front of 4720 people, and we managed to keep the Champions-elect at bay for the first 43 minutes. If breaking the deadlock just before half time wasn't bad enough, the home side then managed to get a rather fortuitous penalty in injury time. It seemed the ball just hit our lad on the hand and he could do very little about it. But after holding parity for 43 minutes we went in 2-0 down!

Within five or six minutes of the restart, Anthony Lyons got brought down by Sam Ashton only for the ref to book Lyonsy! Can't say I was impressed. We did though get back into it when Max Fisher scored his first goal of the season just after the hour mark.

Macclesfield restored their two-goal advantage through Tom Clare (for his second) just before the 70 minute mark. I said to my best mate Kev (who came with me to Macc) that if we score next, we can make it very interesting. Unfortunately we didn't as Mark Duffy's shot from distance was mishandled by Jack McGovern. It was a shame for Jack who had made some magnificent saves not just during this game, but throughout the season. But hey, I would rather he makes that blunder then when there is very little we are playing for in a game we are expected to lose than say a closely contested final that could go either way.

Callum Schorah was due to head to Widnes to finish the season, and he finished a Jordan Monthe cross to bring it back to 4-2. After coming off the bench earlier, Jordan had actually also set up Max Fisher's goal. With ten minutes to go with the deficit once again being two goals, I mentioned to Kev again that if we score next who knows! 

Macc did then show some good game management and we could hardly get the ball off them. They even forced some good saves from Jack into the final stages. So 4-2 was how it ended.

I think we did well to draw the second half and remain level for 43 minutes of the first half. However, they were as expected a class above. Whilst you could argue that on another day had we been really lucky we could have pulled off a shock, you could also say that had our luck been totally out then we could also so easily have been on the receiving end of a complete thrashing. I am so glad we avoided that thrashing scenario. 

Macclesfield would move on to the Northern Premier League. As for us, we started the final day of the season in 13th place, knowing we could finish anywhere between 11th and 15th. We ended up in 14th. But having just been promoted the previous season, I think you take that.