The Silkmen made it two wins from two in pre-season as John Rooney’s side followed up last week’s victory over Hyde United with a comfortable 4-0 win against Cheadle Town at the Leasing.com Stadium.
Contracted players Christian Dibble, Luke Matheson, Lincoln McFayden, Paul Dawson, Elliot Osborne, Luke Duffy and Fin Shrimpton all started the afternoon alongside a number of trialists as Manager John Rooney continues to build his squad ahead of the new campaign.
The opening stages were fairly cautious, with neither side creating any clear-cut opportunities. Macclesfield began to find joy down the right-hand side and came close to opening the scoring after eight minutes when Luke Duffy struck from the edge of the area, forcing a smart save from Cheadle’s trialist goalkeeper. The resulting corner provided the breakthrough just a minute later. Duffy’s delivery was met by trialist wearing 18, who nodded a header into the net to give the hosts a deserved lead.
Macclesfield continued to dominate possession and territory following the opener, although Cheadle threatened on occasions. Sam Adegore dragged an effort narrowly wide before Max Hancock forced a routine save from goalkeeper Dibble after a promising run towards the penalty area.
The Silkmen remained the more dangerous side and nearly doubled their advantage on 28 minutes when Paul Dawson’s looping header from another Duffy corner cannoned back off the crossbar.
Their second goal arrived shortly afterwards. Duffy was again the creator, producing some brilliant individual footwork before a clever pass to send trialist donning 18 through on goal, and the forward finished calmly to claim his second of the afternoon.
Macclesfield continued to create opportunities before the interval. Trialist wearing 18 thought he had completed his hat-trick, only for the assistant referee’s flag to deny him, while Dawson and Shrimpton failed to capitalise on a golden opportunity after a mistake from the visiting goalkeeper.
After wholesale changes at the break, which saw the introduction of George Wilson, Ammar Dyer, Luis Lacey, Carlos Dos Santos, Sam Heathcote and Theo Chapman, the second half took time to settle. Cheadle enjoyed a spell of pressure, with Adegore drawing a fine save from Macclesfield’s trialist goalkeeper before Luke Bent fired over from close range.
As the game progressed, however, Macclesfield took complete control as Luis Lacey twice went close with efforts that narrowly cleared the crossbar.
Paul Dawson was re-introduced in the closing stages in place of trialist wearing 5 before the Silkmen eventually added a third goal six minutes from full time, when trialist wearing 19 latched onto a through ball and delicately lifted his finish beyond the advancing goalkeeper.
Just two minutes later, another trialist wearing 9 completed the scoring, reacting quickest to a rebound before firing a low drive into the far bottom corner. Macc could have added further goals in the closing stages but were forced to settle for a convincing 4-0 victory, one that continued an encouraging start to pre-season and provided another valuable fitness exercise ahead of the new campaign.
The Silkmen return to action on Tuesday evening when they travel to local rivals Leek Town, with kick-off at the F. Ball Community Stadium scheduled for 7:45pm.
