Danny Thomas' 3rd goal of the season was enough to give the Silkmen a much needed three points against a poor Brentford side at the Moss Rose tonight.
In a match short on quality for long periods, Macclesfield twice hit the woodwork before Thomas pounced on clumsy defending by the Bees with 15 minutes to go.
A knock to Francis Green at Mansfield on Saturday gave Gareth Evans his first league start for the Silkmen, partnering Martin Gritton in attack. At the back Jimmy McNulty returned, pushing Richard Edghill to full back and Carl Regan to the bench. Terry Dunfield also returned after serving his suspension at Jamie Tolley's expense.
Just five minutes in Macc almost took a fortunate lead when great battling from Gritton earned a free kick on the right and Kevin McIntyre's inswinging set piece was glanced onto his own post by Ben Starosta.
The Bees threatened little early on, although Glenn Poole's ambitious dipping volley had Tommy Lee scrambling as it landed on the roof of the net.
Gritton glanced a diving header well wide when found by Thomas' cross on 11 minutes and Dunfield broke the offside trap only to volley straight at Simon Brown from ten yards as Macc had the best of the chances.
The visitors saw a penalty shout waved away in the 34th minute when Lee could only spill Sammy Moore's 25 yard drive back into the box, and when Luke Dimech's strength allowed him to reach the loose ball before Alan Connell the former Bournemouth striker went to ground.
Dunfield's thunderous long range free kick was palmed to safety and minutes before half time the frame of Brown's goal was rattled again when a vicious Evans effort deflected onto the bar after Gritton knocked down a Thomas cross into his path.
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Gareth Evans - Unlucky to hit the bar on his first start for the Silkmen |
Brentford came out stronger after the break - seeing more of the ball and asking more questions of the home defence without really troubling Lee too much.
The Macc stopper wasn't looking too confident on crosses though and on a few occasions chose to punch clear when it looked like he could have caught the ball. Lee Thorpe went close with a header before Tommy Lee claimed the resulting flag kick amid claims for a push on the ex-Torquay front man.
Edghill was stretchered off after an innocuous looking challenge in his own half on 72 minutes and was replaced by Simon Wiles. Tolley also came off the bench to replace Adam Murray as Ian Brightwell changed things in the centre.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 76 minute courtesy of a mixture of good passing and calamitous defending. Reid found the run of Wiles on the right and with almost his first touch he whipped in a dangerous cross which was headed at his own keeper by Bees skipper John Mackie. Keeper Brown parried the header but after Evans missed the initial rebound Thomas pounced to lash in through a crowd of players for his third goal in as many home games.
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Danny Thomas - The winger scored for the third home game in a row to cap a great performance |
The stretcher bearers were called into action soon afterwards when Lewis Emanuel was caught by a late challenge by Levi Reid. The Macc midfielder was booked and the Luton loanee was taken off with a suspected broken leg.
A second Macc goal was ruled out with seven minutes remaining for a push by Wiles when he knocked a Thomas cross back into the box for Evans to tap in, however there looked to be minimal contact.
Young striker Evans was heavily involved in the closing stages as he first diverted Thorpe's goal-bound header behind, and at the other end he spurned a glorious challenge to kill the game off with a minute to go when he shot wildly over from the penalty spot when a Wiles cross was pulled back.
Macc hung on for the seven minutes of time added on and substitute Wiles almost added a second when he breathtakingly flew past his man on the edge of the box and hammered a blistering shot into the outside of the stanchion.
The final whistle sent the bulk of the crowd home happy as Macc picked up just their second home win of the season and Brightwell's men will now be able to forget about the demolition at Mansfield when they travel to Rushden for the FA Cup tie on Saturday.
Andy Brinkhurst
