A fantastic second half strike from John Rooney secured a place in the next round of the FA cup for Macclesfield FC against Warrington Rylands.
Macclesfield came into this 3rd qualifying round tie on the back of a draw in midweek away at llkeston and looked to get back to winning ways against Rylands. Warrington have already been to the Leasing.com Stadium this season and took an impressive point away, scoring a 99th-minute equaliser.
This one was an end-to-end affair to begin, and both teams looked to take the lead early on. Laurent Mendy had a good chance in the first couple of minutes but his strike was deflected over the bar.
Macclesfield grew into the game and looked more likely before the away team shocked everyone and took the lead in the 24th minute. Adama Sidibeh was set through on goal and calmly slotted home to put the visitors in front, against the run of play.
Macclesfield were back on level terms just four minutes later when Alex Curran beat Luke Pilling after a fantastic first touch. It was a goal at a vital time as Macclesfield needed to get themselves back into the game and did so in double quick time.
The Silkmen pushed on until half time and looked the better team, but went into the halftime interval level with their opponents.
It was much of the same in the second half, as both teams looked to get the winner, and it took until the 67th minute for that all important goal. John Rooney received the ball from 25 yards out and unleashed an incredible strike to beat Pilling and find the top corner.
Macclesfield then pushed on for the next 10 minutes and looked for a third goal to seal the game, which never came.
Rylands did their utmost to get back into the game and force a replay with a draw, but their efforts were scuppered by a fantastic defensive performance from The Silkmen. The John Rooney beauty secured The Silkmen’s place in the next round of the FA cup, and the draw takes place on Monday.
Next up it’s Hanley town in the Isuzu trophy next weekend, which is yet another competition that The Silkmen will have to account for this season.
By Kallum Bates