A jaded Silkmen side slipped to a 3-1 defeat in their Enterprise National League North play-off semi-final away at Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday afternoon
John Rooney named an unchanged side from the one that defeated Chester in the dying seconds on Wednesday evening at the Leasing.com Stadium.
Macc were buoyed from minute one by a booking presented to Kidderminster’s Richard Faakye within 60 seconds for an elbow on James Edmondson.
It was the hosts who had the first real chance in front of goal, but Kieren Donnelly’s side-footed attempt was swallowed up comfortably by Rogan Ravenhill.
Luke Duffy had Macc’s first attempt, though couldn’t direct his glancing header on target from Isaac Buckley-Ricketts’ cross from the left flank.
Duffy created another opportunities minutes later after Elliot Osborne’s low drive had been deflected behind for a corner, the winger attempted to recreate his goal from Wednesday night as he set his sights on the near post, though could only find the wrong side of the side netting.
A second man in red entered the book before reaching the 20th minute mark as Reece Devine was cautioned for a late challenge on Duffy, causing issues from the right wing for the Harriers early on.
Macc continued their onslaught on the Harriers goal with Edmondson delivering a testing free-kick in to the danger zone, which the hosts just managed to clear their lines from after a busy first period for their line of defence.
Sam Heathcote tried his luck from range moments later, though couldn’t hit the target, dragging the speculative attempt wide of the mark.
Luis Lacey was the first in blue to receive a yellow card for an obstruction, just before Kiddy took the lead through their first carded man Faayke, who managed to scramble the ball over the line with bodies back for Macc, filling the six yard box, though couldn’t manage to keep the desperate attempt out.
Four minutes were added at the end of the first half, during which Duffy almost levelled for the Silkmen, forcing Christian Dibble in to an acrobatic save, tipping over the winger’s effort as it began to drop at the key moment towards the far top corner.
it was instead Harriers who got themselves further in front before the break, with Kieren Donnelly turning home a cross from the right to sucker punch the Silkmen seconds before the interval.
It was an equally difficult start to the second half for Macc, making one change at the break, with Lewis Fensome replacing Luis Lacey, as three separate men in blue picked up knocks within five minutes of the restart in a physical battle after re-emerging from the dressing rooms.
Fortunately, all three, Borthwick-Jackson, Buckley-Ricketts and Dawson all seemed ok to continue, though Borthwick-Jackson was withdrawn less than ten minutes later for James Gale in an attacking move for the Silkmen with ground to make up in the remaining half an hour.
Emeka Obi was next to receive a caution for leaving an elbow in on recent substitute James Gale, and from the free-kick, Josh Kay almost halved the deficit for the Silkmen, though saw his low drive well blocked.
Luke Duffy came closest to getting Macc back in to the game as he saw his placed effort towards the far corner cleared off the line following a James Edmondson corner.
The 1,000+ Silkmen faithful that had travelled refused to give up hope as they continued to will the boys in blue on for the entirety of the game, though sadly to little avail.
Two further changes were made either side of the 80th minute mark with Isaac Buckley-Ricketts and James Edmondson leaving the field in place of Anjola Popoola and Carlos Dos Santos respectively.
The Silkmen’s fate was agonisingly sealed as the clock struck 90 minutes with Seb Thompson picking up a loose ball before firing beyond Ravenhill to put the result seemingly beyond all doubt.
It wasn’t without a fightback though, through sheer determination showed for the whole game, eventually paying off mid-way through the six minutes added on as Luke Matheson fired high in to the roof of the net to give the Silkmen what appeared to be a glimmer of hope though more of a consolation as the referee’s whistle not long after signalled the end of Macclesfield’s play-off campaign and 2025/26 season as a whole.
Despite their best efforts, the Silkmen will spend the upcoming 2026/27 season in the Enterprise National League North once more, with their eyes set firmly on promotion the top flight of non-league football.
Attendance: 4,426
MOTM: Luke Matheson
