MACCLESFIELD Town will look to continue their impressive end to the season and complete a winning ‘double’ over Guiseley AFC at the Moss Rose on Saturday afternoon (K.O. 15-00).
John Askey’s men have had an upturn in fortunes of late collecting 10 points from a possible 12 before Tuesday’s hard earned point against Dover Athletic in which they played with striker Jack Sampson in goal for 85 minutes following the early sending off of Ritchie Branagan.
Mark Bower’s men secured a huge three points on Tuesday night with a 3-1 home success against Wrexham that all but secures their status in the National League. Prior to that triumph however they had gone a worrying 13 games without tasting victory that had left some fans worrying that their stay in the fifth tier of English football may well have been limited to just one season.
The reverse fixture was played on a wet Tuesday night in October and it was the Silkmen who took the points back to Cheshire with a 3-0 success at Nethermoor Park. The goals that evening came from a Paul Turnbull free-kick, a skidding drive by Danny Whitehead and a smart finish from Danny Whitaker. Shwan Jalal also saved a Liam Dickenson penalty just to ensure it really was the perfect night for Macc.
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Macclesfield successfully won their appeal against Ritchie Branagan’s red card on Tuesday night so the Irish stopper will be able to take his place in goal if Shwan Jalal remains unavailable through injury.
The Silkmen are also likely to be without the services of midfielder Paul Lewis who has been missing for over a month and John Askey may also be sweating on the fitness of on-loan Wigan midfielder Danny Whitehead who came off after half an hour of the Dover match after picking up a knock.
In spite of keeping a clean sheet and winning the man of the match award on Tuesday night, Jack Sampson will hope to revert back to his usual position of centre-forward rather than donning the goalkeeper’s gloves on Saturday.
There should be a Moss Rose return for Guiseley’s Emile Sinclair. The on-loan York man represented Macc across four different seasons in the Football League and notched both goals in a 2-0 League Cup win at Hull City before moving to the then Championship side Peterborough United.
The man who might be partnering Sinclair in attack is Adam Boyes, the ex-Barrow and Gateshead forward scored two in Tuesday’s win against Wrexham and will look to extend that scoring run at the Moss Rose.
Squads last time out:
Macclesfield: Branagan, Halls, Pilkington, McCombe, Diagne, Byrne, Fitzpatrick, Whitehead, Whitaker, Turnbull, Rowe, Holroyd, Sampson, Sutherland, Styche, Dennis.
Guiseley: Drench, Toulson, Lowe, Lawlor, Parker, Atkinson, Hatfield, Norburn, Dudley, Craddock, Boshell, Boyes, Johnson, Rothery, Smith, Atkinson.
By Jordan Davies
@jordandavies09
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