Barrow rue missed early chances as Macclesfield show their promotion quality

[Barrow Lad]

Barrow: Moore, Barthram, Bauress, Diarra, Bignot, Hughes, Hall, Gomis, Clements, Yussuf, Harrison
35: Diagne replaced Barthram (injured)
63: White replaced Yussuf
69: Holt replaced Clements

Booked: Diarra (58, foul on Burgess)

Macclesfield Town: Jalal, Hodgkiss, Fitzpatrick, Lowe, Pilkington, Durrell, Wilson, Lloyd, Whitehead, Burgess, Whitaker
79: Hancox replaced Durrell
80: Marsh replaced Wilson

GOALS: Hodgkiss (27), Wilson (61)

Before kick-off, a sizeable 1,644 crowd including 130 visitors immaculately observed a minute’s silence. In the first minute of the game, a promising start by the Bluebirds saw Byron Harrison first thread a ball through to Adi Yussuf whose shot was easily saved by Shwan Jalal. Immediately back on the attack, a shot from Bedsente Gomis from the edge of the area went just wide of the left post.

Equalling up chances on goal in the next 10 minutes, Stuart Moore dealt with a long range shot from Scott Burgess and then Jared Hodgkiss shot wide.

The end-to-end battle continued. With 15 minutes on the clock, Gomis had a 20 yarder saved and four minutes later a cross from Elliott Durrell following the first corner of the game forced a good save from Moore.

Barrow’s best chance of the game came in the 20th minute when a good ball from Bradley Bauress left Yussuf with only Jalal to beat. His shot rolled past the goalie- but also just past the right post.

We were soon left rueing this missed opportunity when Hodgkiss passed to Danny Whitaker, cutting through Barrow’s defence to feed the ball back to Hodgkiss for the first goal in the 27th minute. The Macclesfield fans celebrated with a blue flare.

Things went from bad to worse for Barrow following a couple of quick breaks. First, a ball from Danny Whitehead was crossed dangerously by Scott Wilson but Burgess blasted over from close range. A minute later, Wilson was through on goal. Jack Barthram went down injured defending the chance and had to be replaced by Tony Diagne.

Barrow fought on for the equaliser, Asa Hall first heading wide from close range in the 41st minute and then in time added, feeding a long ball to Yussuf who fired well wide of the target. Just before half-time, Moore saved a Ryan Lloyd shot from the left, the score remaining 0-1 at the break.

At this stage it seemed possible that Barrow would get back into the game and less than three minutes into the second half, a Yussuf shot was punched away for Barrow’s first corner of the game. However, Macclesfield’s superior organisation and passing accuracy would soon snuff out our dogged efforts.

In the 58th minute, a dangerous Burgess run through Barrow’s defence was only halted at the cost of a Moussa Diarra booking, but he had already managed to pass to Wilson who shot wide. A minute later, a ball from Whitehead gave Durrell a dangerous shot across goal as Barrow lived dangerously. On the hour, Wilson found himself on the edge of the area and fired a superb shot into the top left corner, giving Moore no chance and a mountain for Barrow to climb.

Yussuf, who was awarded Barrow’s man of the match, was then replaced by Jordan White. Five minutes later Grant Holt returned to the Holker Street turf, replacing Chris Clements. This gave the Bluebirds some fresh momentum. Hall had a shot saved in the 73rd minute and four minutes later, from a throw in, Diagne headed over from close range. Jalal was then tested by a sharp shot from Hall following a good run by Bauress.

With ten minutes of normal time remaining, Macclesfield replaced Durrell and Wilson with Hancox and Marsh. Despite forays into the Macclesfield area, we couldn’t even find a consolation goal and remain in 21st position as the visitors climb back into 2nd place.

In the end the better team won and gives us an idea of the challenges ahead if we are to move up into the top half or battle for promotion. However we should have the quality to move out of the relegation zone; our forthcoming away encounters with Eastleigh and Gateshead will put that to the test.

[HenneysKnee]

sizeable 1,644 crowd including 130 visitors

Thought Macc were officially bringing 200-250 fans?