Morley 13  Macclesfield  0

Macclesfield’s chances of survival at National League level took a turn for the worse at Scatcherd Lane when fellow strugglers Morley denied the Blues any scoring opportunities on a bleak afternoon for the club as the home side inflicted the 11^th defeat of the season on them.

The game began on a pitch in surprisingly good condition after the rain that had fallen on West Yorkshire earlier in the week and a stiff breeze blew down the park as Morley kicked off.  After early pressure by Macclesfield a lost line out gave the home side a sixty metre break and shortly afterwards Stand Off Glen Boyd struck a penalty to give Morley a 3-0 lead.

The Macclesfield restart went direct into touch but despite that the Blues put in a period of good pressure but a basic error losing the ball enabled the home side to regroup and then a Morley interception of a Macclesfield pass gave them another fifty metre advantage and soon after this Macc Scrum Half – Joe Walker – had to leave the park with a knee injury to be replaced by Nick Barker.

Morley scored their first try shortly afterwards after a good move and handling saw winger Jon Hampsey over in the corner. The conversion fell short but it was 8-0 and with little going Macclesfield’s way it was left to Flanker Dan Baines & No. 8 Ollie Hewitt to make inroads into the home defence with some good drives but the Macclesfield defence was adrift when just before the break when the Morley wingman shrugged off three tackles to make good ground.

Macclesfield kicked off the second half into the breeze and the game was not many minutes into the period when Rueben Harvey was binned for foul play but the Blues defence somehow held out in his absence despite a pounding from Morley who had the Lions share of the ball during the second half and only poor finishing by them prevented further scoring.

Macclesfield rang the changes but to no avail as they only managed to encroach into the home 22 twice during the second half and right at the death as injury time approached the knife was plunged in even deeper when Morley flanker – Craig Field – went over to complete the scoring and an unhappy afternoon for the Blues and their travelling supporters.

Following the game Coach Steve Mannion said, “I was bitterly disappointed by the performance especially as in training the squad are looking so good but they are not transferring this on the park on match days and there is so little time left to turn the season round but rest assured we will battle to the end”

Team: Latham, Allen, Collie, Kerr, Bostock, Harvey, Baines, Hewitt. Walker, Newell, Jones, Howcroft, Winney, Barker, Macey.

Replacements: Moss, Hughes, Hall, Lear