22^nd November 2022, Runcorn Linnets FC v Macclesfield FC : 2-1 Sponsored by 'Snowball Williams'

Linnets followed a massive Saturday cup game with a massive Tuesday league game.

After stretching National League North side Spennymoor Town to the limit in the Isuzu FA Trophy, they welcomed Macclesfield in the Pitching In NPL West Division.

The table toppers were aiming to be the first team to beat Linnets in a competitive game at the APEC this season.

That never looked on the cards, as the first half was dominated by the hosts, until Macclesfield went ahead in the 37th minute, with only their second attempt anywhere near the target.

A straight red card five minutes later, for a horrible challenge on Sean O'Mahony by Kane Drummond, didn't visibly turn the tide in Linnets' favour, and nor did the loss of the Macc 'keeper to injury, 25 minutes from time.

But a beauty of a Ryan Brooke free-kick two minutes into the second half, and a 70th-minute Jamie Rainford penalty, together with dogged Runcorn resistance to a late Silkmen siege on Tabs' goal, secured all three points.

The inclusion of Tom Moore in the starting line-up, as well as Sean O'Mahony and Sam Heathcote, hinted at a three-man central defence, with Ally Brown and James Short in attacking wing-back mode.

But it quickly became clear that Tom was midfield general for the night, and he ran the show in the middle of the pitch for most of the game. By 10pm, there was little or no speculation about the destination of the man-of-the- match award, and manager Dave Wild summed it up with the word: 'Busquets'.

Habitual supersub Dapo Olarewaju started wide on the right, and he made the kind of immediate impact we are used to seeing him deliver from the bench. Sam Grimshaw was detailed to contain him, but he spent most of the first half, before being substituted by Joe Bunney at half-time, reading the number 11 on Dapo's back.

Macc's centre-backs were pulled away from their policing of Rainford and Brooke in the middle, as four times in the first seven minutes, Dapo made his way to the goal-line to fashion a cross or a shot.

As his efforts were blocked or deflected, Short and Brown saw follow-up shots swing wide of either post.

Ryan Brooke also broke into the area from the left, and flashed a shot across 'keeper Marcelo Pitaluga, which he did well to push past the far post.

The game was nine minutes old before Macclesfield completed their first pass inside the Runcorn half, and it was surprising to see the league leaders' first few attempts to attack being limited to long punts that ran harmlessly wide, or tamely to the feet of 'sweeper-keeper' Danny Taberner.

That first controlled attack won a throw-in and then a corner from the right. That flew long to set up an exchange of passes between Grimshaw and Danns, and a cross which O'Mahony headed clear.

A Runcorn corner followed from a loose Macc backpass. Sam Heathcote might well have opened the scoring with a resulting volley from the far corner of the six-yard box, but he leaned back, and fired high.

Linnets pressed fast up both flanks, via Olarewaju and Gumbs, and through the middle as Tom Moore won countless tackles and loose balls, rendering Macclesfield possession negligible.

Another Dapo run won a corner, which was headed away, only for Moore to fire it back into the area. Jamie Rainford's horizontal bicycle kick cleared the bar by inches, but an offside flag was raised anyway.

Tom Moore was making up for injury-limited minutes, since joining Linnets in the summer, by covering every blade of grass in the middle third. He was instrumental in the fact that the ball spent almost all of the first 20 minutes in the Forest End half of the pitch, which was being defended stoically by the Silkmen.

Over the next five minutes, Macclesfield started to gain some ground towards the Clubhouse End, but the home back four were quickly supported by Moore, Gumbs and Sanogo, and nothing resembling an attempt on goal resulted.

Dapo's blistering pace also allowed him to turn attack into defence and back again in seconds. He was left limping after being fouled inside the Linnets area, as he dispossessed Neil Kengni.

Pitaluga made a great save at the other end from a booming Rainford effort, and he caught the resulting James Short corner at the second grab.

Macclesfield returned the ball to the Clubhouse End, where Kengni executed their first attempt on target of the game, after 36 minutes.

His shot across the six-yard box was tipped wide by Taberner, and completely against the run of play, Berry's corner kick was headed in by Lewis Fensome, as Tabs was wrong-footed by a glance off a defensive head. It was an ironic blip in Tom Moore's towering performance that he lost his man at the vital moment.

Teams that win leagues are frequently credited with carving out victories from unconvincing performances, and the noisy Linnets fans dominating a record attendance of 1,080 for an APEC league game, had to wonder if this might be one of those occasions.

But Linnets went back on the offensive, with Olarewaju and Rainford turning defenders in the area and vying for a crack at goal. A corner from the right was headed away as far as Sean O'Mahony, inside the left touchline, where the Runcorn vice-captain was felled by a brutal two-footed challenge by Kane Drummond.

The Macclesfield No.9 was making his debut, delayed by having signed for them while serving a ban for his dismissal in Warrington Rylands' 5-0 FA Trophy reverse at Colne on 29th October. The red card signalling his next suspension was out of referee Barry Lamb's pocket almost before Sean had hit the ground.

James Short's 35-yard free-kick whistled just over the top left angle.

An eventful final ten minutes of the first half prompted three changes of personnel at half-time.

Joe Bunney and Tom Clare replaced Grimshaw and Danns for Macclesfield, and Linnets' Eden Gumbs gave way to James Hooper.

From the restart, Hoops set off up the left with intent, in tandem with James Short, and when Ryan Brooke intercepted a clearance from Shorty's cross, he was fouled from behind, less than ten yards outside the area.

Brooky took the free-kick himself, and curled an unstoppable shot into the top left bin, with Pitaluga a couple of postcodes away from any chance of stopping it. Think Beckham versus Greece in 2001.

With the score levelled, and Macclesfield down to ten men, Linnets would surely take charge, as they had threatened but failed to do throughout the first half.

But events didn't unfold that way. In truth, Macclesfield never really looked like a depleted team for the rest of the night.

Both sides set out to get forward fast, rather than securing possession and slowing things down.

James Berry was a repeated threat, speeding in from the left with Linnets defenders struggling to prevent it, and on 51 minutes he reached the left post, where Tabs did well to deflect his close range shot wide.

Nathan Lowe's shot from just outside the area was also dangerous, but Sidi Sanogo blocked it at point-blank range, and the ball ballooned high over the bar.

Linnets replied in kind. Dapo was fouled advancing into the Macc half, and Hooper flicked on the free-kick for Rainford inside the area, but his shot was blocked.

Just past the hour mark, Pitaluga collapsed in agony, landing awkwardly on an ankle as he launched a clearance. After a five-minute delay, he rejected the offer of a stretcher, but had to be helped from the pitch, unable to stand on his left foot.

There was no substitute 'keeper on the bench, so Macclesfield scorer Fensome donned the gloves. James Hardy came on to replace him among the nine white away shirts.

Logic suggested that Linnets had been gifted a match-winning advantage against the ten men, but in the event, it didn't do them any favours.

There was a natural compulsion in the Runcorn ranks to get the ball forward and take every opportunity to test the makeshift 'keeper. But as the Silkmen succeeded in protecting their area, it meant that Linnets were losing the ball more than they were keeping it, and that didn't help them to exploit the one-man advantage between the boxes.

Macclesfield attacked, and a mad scramble in the six-yard box saw two close range efforts cleared from the line by Taberner, and a third by Short.

The ultimately deciding incident of the game resulted, unsurprisingly, from a Dapo Olarewaju surge into the away area from the left. Laurent Mendy took Dapo's legs away before he could shoot or cross, and Linnets had a penalty, with 20 minutes remaining.

It might have given Fensome the opportunity to enter Macclesfield folklore, had Jamie Rainford not stroked the spot-kick calmly to the right, as the stand-in 'keeper dived the other way.

For their part, Macclesfield used their possession to advance fast in search of an equaliser, and when Linnets had the ball, the Silkmen acted quickly, and not always fairly, to restrict their access to Fensome's area.

Ten yards into another charge into the Macc half, Dapo was clattered from behind, in a challenge that earned Tre Pemberton a yellow card. The long-free kick into the area was headed away, and Jamie Rainford returned a volley, which cleared the bar.

Thirteen minutes from time, or from lengthy added time due to Pitaluga's injury, Shorty bellowed for handball, when Pemberton used both hands to protect his face from his powerful drive towards the area. Mr Lamb didn't concur.

As the ball ran towards the halfway line, Ryan Brooke saw the chance for a long dig at goal. Fensome got his body behind it, and held on, after a minor juggle.

But that was a rare worry for Fensome, as Macclesfield looked nothing like ten men in taking the game to the Forest End.

After a scramble in the area, Tom Moore saw yellow for a hefty tackle 25 yards out. Berry's free-kick might have ranked with Brooky's dead-ball equaliser, had it not slammed off the left post, before Tabs had had a chance to move his feet.

Neil Kengni fired a shot over the bar from 20 yards, and was then injured as he raced Sean O'Mahony for the ball towards the goal-line near the left corner flag, and collided with an unfortunately-located photographer.

Ally Brown received Linnets' second yellow card of the night, for an unnecessarily heavy challenge near the touchline.

Another free-kick, conceded in controlling another Berry diagonal run from the left, was headed for a corner by Sam Heathcote's leap in the defensive wall.

Most of the ten minutes of added time were occupied by relentless Macclesfield pressure, and Linnets fans remained only too aware of the damage they can do at the twelfth hour. On Saturday, the Silkmen had turned a 2-3 deficit at home to Mossley into a 4-3 win, with both goals officially timed at 90.

But the Runcorn backline was equally determined. Supplemented by all except Rainford, who loitered on halfway to exploit any breaks, they continued to show why Linnets have conceded fewer than any team in the NPL West. They have been breached just eleven times, in fifteen games.

Rainford gave way to Zack Clarke for the final added minute, which was enough time for one more moment of controversy.

Berry came in from the left yet again, across the front of the Linnets area, and was checked by a challenge a yard outside it. He stayed on his feet, and made another five yards before being challenged again. This time he went down, just inside the area, but the referee awarded a free-kick from the point of the first challenge.

The free-kick was deflected for another corner, but only after prolonged protests from the Macclesfield players and their fans behind the goal, that they should have been awarded a last-gasp penalty.

It appeared to me that Mr Lamb had recognised a foul in the first challenge, but played advantage, and when none materialised, he awarded the free-kick. It's one of the many laws that are made complicated, and potentially ambiguous, by being left open to interpretation by officials.

The plot thickened with the post-match thoughts of Macc manager Dave McNabb. He was magnanimous about Linnets' performance, especially in the first half, and had no complaints about the Drummond red card or the Runcorn penalty award.

But he confessed to confusion about that last minute free-kick decision. He questioned why the referee pulled play back for the foul, rather than play advantage, and allow Berry, still in possession, to shoot and possibly score. But that is surely what Mr Lamb did, until Berry went to ground, and was unable to do aim for goal.

In any event, it was the final act of a fascinating evening's football, the conclusion of which sent Linnets on and off the pitch into raptures. Some Macclesfield fans voiced amusement at the Murdishaw Massive celebrating 'as though they had won the cup'. Why wouldn't they, having taken all three points from everyone's champions elect? Perhaps it was just disappointment talking, as they had also failed to notice that Team Bucket Hat had made just as much noise when their side were a goal behind.

Runcorn attentions switches from the top of the table to the bottom, with Saturday's trip to 19th-placed Ramsbottom United. Absolutely nothing will be taken for granted.

Runcorn Linnets: Danny Taberner, Ally Brown, James Short, Tom Moore, Sean O'Mahony, Sam Heathcote, Ryan Brooke, Eden Gumbs (James Hooper, 45), Jamie Rainford (Zack Clarke 90), Sidi Sanogo Fofana, Dapo Olarewaju. Subs not used: Isaac Turner, Macauley Clifton, Louis Holden.

Attendance: 1,080.

NB. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Runcorn Linnets FC or its Board.