A first half brace from Macclesfield midfielder Alex Curran helped The Silkmen on their way to a comfortable Saturday afternoon victory over Gainsborough Trinity at The Leasing.com Stadium.
The Silkmen fans had to wait 22 minutes for the opener. Brandon Lee received the ball on the right and drilled a low cross into Curran, who fired the ball past Dylan Wharton to make it 1-0.
The hosts were in the ascendancy and quickly added a second 10 minutes later. It was Curran yet again the goalscorer after high pressing from Tom Peers turned the ball over in a dangerous area.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Macclesfield in the first half, as manager Mark Duffy was forced into an early change. Kane Drummond went off with an injury and was replaced by Neil Kengni.
The Silkmen dominated the majority of the first half, and the closest that Trinity got to pulling a goal back was a low effort from Javelle Clarke, which was well saved by Max Johnstone at the end of the first period.
The away side started the second half brightly and had a goal ruled out for offside. A free kick from Lewis Butroid found the head of Will Flint, but the Gainsborough man was adjudged to be in an offside position.
Tom Peers nearly sealed the game in the 66th minute when Lee again made his signature run. He fired the ball back across the box towards Peers, who couldn’t sort his feet out in time.
The game was put beyond any doubt with 15 minutes left when James Hardy netted his first goal of the campaign.
Kengni was well thwarted by Wharton after a lovely pass from Hardy himself, and the latter was then set up by Alex Curran, who unselfishly passed instead of shooting himself.
Hardy then had the simple task of slotting the ball into a half empty net to secure all three points for Macclesfield, and continue their perfect start to the campaign.
Macclesfield manager Mark Duffy talked about his team’s performance and the challenge of playing against Gainsborough.
“We weren’t quite at our best. We know that teams are going to come here and try to frustrate us, and it’s a sign of respect that some teams will come here and just try to limit the damage.”
“But overall it was a good result, three goals scored and a clean sheet.”