Caldy 27  Macclesfield 22

The commitment of the Macclesfield players who are still fighting their corner for league survival is unquestioned but it took another blow at Paton Field on Saturday when, yet again, despite gaining a bonus point, the side went down to a fourth successive defeat in a game that they will know that they just could have won.

On a still and dull afternoon on the Wirral with rain always threatening it was the home side who kicked off but a poor touch find saw the resultant line out on the Macclesfield 22 and on gaining the ball the home side maintained pressure until with just two minutes of the game gone a missed tackle saw the powerful Caldy Centre – Marcus Coast – break through to touch down before the Blues had even had possession.  Gavin Roberts – who kicked well all afternoon – added the two and the fight was on.

Ross Winney narrowed the margin with a penalty after six minutes but from the resultant Caldy kick off the ball was dropped and the home side drove forward for Prop Derek Salisbury to score their second try and with Roberts’s conversion again successful the Blues were wondering just what had hit them.  14-6 down after just 8 minutes play and it was all going pear shaped for the supporters on the banking.

Winney struck another penalty but that was cancelled out by a Roberts penalty before Mike Newell dropped a neat goal to make it 17-9 as the half hour approached.  Caldy were perhaps fortunate to retain a full fifteen on the park as several instances of violent play were not carded and as the interval beckoned a Winney penalty struck the uprights and bounced out but at 17-9 the Blues were well in contention with the pack getting on top of their game in the tight but the Caldy defence held firm.

Macclesfield kicked off after the break and began to look dangerous especially when Full Back – Fergus Mulchrone – took a quick throw and went on a cross field run that almost resulted in a score but it was left to Winney to hit another penalty to make it 17-12 before the outstanding Roberts went over for the home sides third try which he converted to make it 24-12.

The Blues then lost Neale Keane to the bin after a bit of shirt tugging which seemed a little innocuous especially with what had gone unpunished previously but while he was off the park Winney got three back with another penalty which was cancelled out minutes later by another Roberts kick and at 27-15 the game was getting out of reach but the commitment of the Macclesfield side saw them score after a lengthy advantage was played with Tim Kerr claiming the touch down.  Winney converted and Caldy were also down to 14 men with a binning for an offence leading to the advantage being played and at 27-22 with ten minutes left it was nail biting stuff with the Macclesfield pack striving for the score which could so easily have come but for a knock on when a great opportunity opened itself up.

The game ended with the Blues attacking and the referee surprisingly not playing even a second of injury time and the side had to be content with just a single bonus point for their efforts.

Following the game Steve Mannion, whilst clearly unhappy with the score, was full of praise for Macclesfield’s efforts, “I was pleased with the effort and commitment of the side.  Re-starts let us down on the technical side but the player’s attitude is total to the cause and I can ask no more”

Squad: Latham, Moss, Collie, Keane, Bostock, Jones, Mursal, Hewitt. Rice, Newell, Harvey, Winney, Hughes, Fisher & Mulchrone.

Replacements: Brian, Brocklehurst, Kerr & Lear.