Neil Danns said that he “knew this performance was coming” after Macclesfield extended their lead at the top-of-the-table with a 4 – 0 victory over second-place Leek Town.
James Berry scored his third hat-trick in four games with James Hardy also scoring an incredible acrobatic volley to continue Neil Danns’ perfect record as Interim Head Coach.
The goals came in quick succession with Berry connecting with Neil Kengni’s layoff and flashing it past Daniel Roberts, 28 minutes in.
Berry completed his three-goal haul 17 minutes later – once again linking up with Kengni to coolly stroke the ball in and continue his incredible goal-scoring form.
The victory at the Leasing.com Stadium saw Macclesfield go eight points clear but the former Premier League midfielder is keeping his feet firmly on the ground –
“It’s fantastic but at the end of the day, leagues aren’t won in January.
“We will not get ahead of ourselves and we now have to go to Kidsgrove on Saturday with the same intensity and we won’t rest.
“Every single game, for me, is a cup final.”
Before Berry’s opener, Leek arguably enjoyed a strong start, threatening Macc’s backline with Tre Pemberton making an important last-ditch block early on.
“We expected a fairly even game, they are second in the league for a reason. We knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park and we had to earn the right to score those four goals.
“It was a tight game and they were giving as good as they were getting, but we kept doing the right things, which is what we keep hammering into the boys.
“We believed that eventually we will come out on top and the main foundations of that is the work rate and intensity to close people down and not going in half-heartedly.
“When we put that much effort in, teams don’t seem to keep up with us for the whole game – so as long as we are doing this, then I will keep smiling.”
The derby win saw Danns maintain his 100% record with five wins out of five in all competitions.
There can be no doubt that the 40-year-old is loving his new role –
“I said in the changing room how proud I am to be in interim charge of these lads and everyone else within the backroom staff.
“We knew it was a massive game and the detail that has gone into planning this is a credit to everyone involved.
“Every game we keep coming in saying we have to improve and that isn’t just today, that comes every day from training.
“When I went home on Thursday, I thought to myself this group has so much energy and there is so much vibrance around the place.
“I sort of knew that this performance was coming today because the signs were there all week and that is a credit to everyone – from the players to the staff.
“You can feel the togetherness and the crowd were unbelievable today – everything felt like it was going to be a good day.”
By Nathan Edwards.
