FL2: Macclesfield v Torquay Utd, 14 Jan 2012

That's full time with a good 1-2 away win. Dave Thomas thought we were the better of the two sides and passed the ball well. Only the third team to win there this season! At the moment only outside the play offs by GD. Still undefeated with Howe out of the side!

Great win.
;D

On the day Howe got sent off, some wise soul on here (can't remember who) pointed out we had not lost when Howe was not in the side. I must admit I didn't find much solace in that statistic at the time, four games on and we are flying!! Fantastic, he may have to warm the bench v morecambe!!

The way we are going, we could get there before the end of January!

A good win for us but didn't need to be so close - should have been 3 or 4 in front before they pulled one back late on. First half was fairly even; we had a few scrambles in front of their goal where we just couldn't stab it home, keeper made a good save from a firm shot from Danny cutting in and Atieno might have done better when he headed just over from a neat Nico cross. Manse hit a great volley just wide from the edge of the box. At the other end Bobby made a great save when they got clear on the left. Once we went ahead second half we got stronger and Macc faded. It was at the far end but I think a corner got headed on and Morris nodded it in from close. Ellis hooked the second in when it looked like they might have cleared another corner. Danny then hit a beautiful bender of a shot which we were right behind at the away end and it looked to be curling in but hit the post. Oastler made a surging run and set up Eunan and others for shots which were blocked and then the keeper made a good stop. Macc hit the post with a header with Bobby struggling to get back and then they scored with a good header from another cross - a bit worrying the number of dangerous crosses they got in occasionally. We played out the rest, with 4 mins added - not sure where from - quite easily. For me man of the match by a mile was Atieno - I've read some criticism of him but the guy did the perfect job away from home in a team lacking first-choice strikers. The guy ran his socks off, held the ball up really well and did the simple thing, making sure he got it to a teammate. He won quite a lot of ball in the air too. Apart from the header already mentioned he didn't have clear chances in front of goal. The defence was solid, although had to deal a few too many crosses for my liking at times. Manse was everywhere, as usual. I was disappointed with Eunan - is the hype too much ? He covered a lot of ground but decision making was slow at times or he over-elaborated. He made a couple of good breaks towards their box but his final pass often let him down. I'm really impressed with what Martin Ling has done with a small squad deprived of their main strikers. We are pretty well organised, although we perhaps didn't maintain the good passing today as well as we can. I would certainly keep Taiwo in the starting line-up next week - he deserves it; Howe will have to start on the bench. Looking forward to Morecambe now - especially the pies - did anyone see the hairy bikers this week ?

interesting about atieno,a player i and many others have mocked if thats the word to use on here,i was impressed by him against swindon,maybe he is another player like carayol,ie the penny finally drops.Also we all know strikers arent always necessarily about scoring.I think he also did a good job at argyle,lingy has also been very praising of him.Lingys dilemna now is 10 out 12 points without howe,so who plays saturday?atieno deserves another bash for now,he hasnt done anything wrong,howe got himself stupidly sent off again so maybe start as a benchwarmer,a bit of rivalry is good within any squad