Cod Almighty | Match Report

by Mike Worden

28 November 2009

Macclesfield Town 0 Grimsby Town 0

The Moss Rose. Nice name for a tiny little ground stuck between a housing estate and railway line on the edge of Macclesfield. Going in, somebody was overheard to say: "This place makes Blundell Park look like Wembley." Obviously not a regular visitor to the Main Stand toilets. A few seasons ago a trip to the Moss Rose was a wake-up call as to how far we had fallen; now we are hoping and praying that we'll be back here next season.

About a couple of hundred Mariners gathered to cheer on Woods' stitched-together quilt of permanent players, loan stars and oddities. Some fans stood on the open terrace that only three years ago was decked out in black and white in anticipation of a Slade-led promotion. Some sat in the side stand.

Grimsby lined up with Colgan in goal, Linwood and Lancashire in central defence with McCrory left-back and Bore at right-back. Leary and Sweeney were the gruesome twosome in the centre of midfield with Featherstone and Coulson playing wide. Up front Akpa Akpro was joined by on-loan Ben Wright. Ooh he's a tall lad.

First half
The Mariners kicked off towards the home end, an odd stand where seats have been added for the first five rows and then terracing left behind, giving the impression that somebody miscalculated the number of seats required, although the real reason is that the minimum were added to make Moss Rose compliant with League regulations. From the off, it was the black and white shirts that took hold of the game, showing a rare energy and determination to gain the lead.

The first real effort was a free kick from Sweeney which Brain in the Macc goal saved. A couple of minutes later the ball was in the net when new loanee Wright got the ball to Akpa Akpro, who was adjudged to have fouled before slotting home. Another shot from Sweeney was well saved by Brain and then on the quarter of an hour mark, Featherstone picked up the ball, turned and took a good shot which just flew wide of the post. Wright then joined in and had a hopeful punt. It was obvious what Woods' pre-match instructions were. Shoot, shoot, and if you get a chance have a shot.

For this first 20 minutes it was pretty much all one-way traffic but then it started to change as Macclesfield started to get more of a grip and Town's defence started to look fragile. The Silkymen got a free kick, which was put out for a corner and from that Bencherif headed just wide, the first sign of a real threat from the home side but one they started to build on. Another attack caused panic in the Grimsby defence and then two more real chances for the home side to take the lead were when a free kick conceded by McCrory hit Colgan's post and the ball seemed to have crossed the line in a crowd of players but the goal wasn't given. Soon after another free kick, the result of a Linwood foul, was pumped into the box but evaded everyone.

After weathering the storm Grimsby started to play a little better and Coulson, who had swapped wings with Featherstone, ran from the left into the middle and unleashed a brilliant shot which hit the crossbar and flew into the Cheshire sky. Brain scrambled to gather it up as it fell to earth. With one minute announced as the added-on time Colgan made it clear to his teammates that he wasn't going to mess with any short goal kicks and was instead going to boot the ball the furthest away from the Town goal he could. And he did and that was the end of the first half.

Second half
Not much happened for a while in the second half but Akpro had a chance at the end of an attack started from a Colgan throw out, but decided to pass to a blue shirt instead. The standard was set as minutes later arguably the best chance of the game fell to him. Picking up a loose ball following a tackle midway between the halfway line and the box, Akpa Akpro ran towards goal in a one-on-one with Brain, but put it wide to the right of goal when it would have been easier to score. Unless you're Akpa Akpro, obviously.

Featherstone was replaced on the right side by Jamie Clarke, with Woods presumably looking to strengthen the midfield to stem Macc attacks, but the plan didn't work straight away as a blue-shirted attack steamrolled through the middle, ending in a shot fortunately straight into Colgan's arms.

New boys Coulson and Wright were beginning to link up well and a couple of neat one-twos nearly got Coulson twice into a goalscoring position, but both times the return pass was just a bit too long. Wright was obviously tiring and Forbes was brought on to replace the Peterboro' man. Forbes had not been on long when he was completely bowled over by Brain as the Macc keeper came rushing out, but Mr Woolmer penalised the striker, much to Forbes' obvious bafflement. This was one of the few things Andy Woolmer got wrong all afternoon in what was generally a competent display.

Growing in confidence, Coulson is quite effective on the left, where he can cut inside to his obviously preferred right foot, and this was demonstrated on the 70-minute mark when a run and great low shot was tipped away by Brain for a corner.

The hapless Akpa Akpro was replaced by Adam Proudlock returning from injury and the move seemed to provide more bite to the attack. He almost made the perfect start, turning and hitting the post with a shot soon after this entrance. Lancashire hit the returning ball well wide.

The remaining part of the game was a fairly even, end-to-end affair. Paul Bolland was brought on as a Silkmen sub, drawing applause from the Grimsby faithful, but it was another sub, Tipton, who had a golden chance in the final minutes but chose to blast over. In the dying seconds Forbes chased a ball with a Macc defender down towards the corner and the clearance came off him. Brain though picked up the ball and went to kick it straight upfield until Mr Woolmer told him it was actually a throw-in. You cheeky Silkyman; Mr Woolmer is too smart to let you get away with that.

And then it was all over and gentle mutual applause between the players and fans was a reflection on a not bad 0-0 and an improvement on recent displays. There were numerous opportunities created and Proudlock and Coulson had shots ricocheting off the woodwork. Wright has potential if he can get fitter and Coulson gives the impression that if he plays more games with the team he could be an asset, by which time he'll probably be playing for someone else. Nevertheless, the weaknesses of missing golden opportunities show the need to strengthen the strikeforce and the introduction of the experienced Proudlock in the second half definitely helped to make that clear. Central midfield could also be stronger and too many times home attacks should have been thwarted in the middle by Leary and Sweeney.