Macclesfield secure the NWCFL title with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Ashton Athletic

Macclesfield FC will be playing Northern Premier League football next season as they saw off Ashton Athletic to secure the North West Counties Football League Premier Division title.

Former Premier League player Neil Danns opened the scoring just before the interval before two goals from record signing James Berry-McNally, and one from Tom Clare got the party started in Cheshire.

The job Macclesfield had to do was simple, win the game and they would win the league. Any other result would have meant they would have to wait until next Saturday to get the job done when they host Avro.

After a delayed kickoff due to the number of supporters trying to get into the game, the final attendance was more than 4,600. Macclesfield started the game like an express train. They could have taken the lead within the first 60 seconds as Lewis Fensome headed over from a cross by Harry Freedman.

Mark Duffy was next to have a go just a couple of minutes later. The former Stoke City youngster put a cross which almost caught Ashton Athletic goalkeeper James Aspinall out. However, the ball bounced out for a goal kick.

At the other end, Ashton Athletic were very much second best. Their best chance came after eight minutes when Cain McDermott volleyed an effort well over Sam Ashton’s goal.

Macclesfield had several chances to take the lead in that first half as Neil Danns, Jacob Hanson and Laurent Mendy all went close with efforts. However, they couldn’t find a way past Aspinall as he made a couple of good saves to deny the Silkmen. It was no doubt getting frustrating for the Macclesfield fans the amount of missed chances, but, to their credit, they kept getting behind the players at every opportunity.

The Silkmen were left feeling aggrieved that they didn’t have at least one penalty in the first half. The first one came after five minutes when Berry went down in the area after having his jersey pulled back, but the referee Jams Kilgannon waved away the appeals. They had an even bigger penalty appeal turned down just before half-time. Aspinall failed to hold a long-range effort from Berry right into the path of Clare. The forward raced in and looked set to score, but Aspinall brought the forward down and with everyone expecting the referee to point to the penalty spot, he waved away the appeals.

However, all that didn’t matter in the first minute of added time, when former Leek Town man Sam Grimshaw put the ball into the area and Macclesfield’s topscorer Danns was able to guide the ball into the back of the net.

The Silkmen then started the second half like they ended the first half. They had played just 180 seconds of that second half when Berry-McNally let fly from around 25-yards. His shot flew over Aspinall and into the back of the net.

Forward Clare made it 3-0 on 64 minutes when Aspinall failed to clear a long ball over the top as he came out of his area. The ball landed to Clare, who had the simple job of rolling the ball into the back of the empty net for his 20th goal of the season.

The goal killed off any hopes of a comeback from the Lancashire based side, especially as Macclesfield were able to retain possession on the superb 4G pitch that they have at the Leasing.com Stadium. Macclesfield did have two more chances as debutant Bobbie McDonnell pulled a shot just wide of the goal after some neat build-up play with Alex Kiwomya. While Berry-McNally pulled a shot just wide of the target.

In the final minute of the game, Berry-McNally got his second goal of the afternoon when he blasted home from the edge of the area. It sparked a mini-pitch invasion as fans celebrated the goal, as they knew the job was almost done.

The pitch was swiftly cleared to allow the game to restart, but the final whistle was forthcoming seconds later to end the game and confirm that Macclesfield FC are the champions of the North West Counties Premier Division.

It is expected that the Silkmen will join the Northern Premier League West division where they could face Leek Town as well as our other Staffordshire sides in Kidsgrove Athletic and Newcastle Town.

After the game, I caught up with Macclesfield manager Danny Whitaker to discuss the promotion.

I also spoke with Macclesfield director of football Robbie Savage about what the promotion means to him.

Macclesfield FC: Ashton, Hanson, Grimshaw, Fensome, Jackson, Mendy, Freedman (Kiwomya, 60), Danns (Owens, 75), Clare (McDonnell, 69)and Berry-McNally.
Unused subs: Adams and Fofana.

Ashton Athletic: Aspinall, Brown (Harding, 45), Thomas, Boyd, White, McDermott (Ako, 80), Moran, Houghton, Bandell (Dunne, 67), Carr and Nicholson.
Unused subs: Middlemore and Wilson.

Attendance: 4,646

Richard Scott
Richard Scott
Sports Reporter

Latest Local Sports News

Must Read News