Ince’s win means pressure for Parkin

Macclesfield Town 1 (McNeil 52)
Rochdale 0

Macclesfield Town had ten heroes on the pitch at the end of their game with relegation rivals Rochdale after they secured a memorable victory despite having Alan Navarro sent off in the first half. The Rochdale fans, who watched from an open terrace in the wind and rain, during what must have been a complete embarrassment in handing the Cheshire side their first win of the season, chose to make their frustrations at Steve Parkin’s managerial tenure known midway through the second half.

The ‘Parkin Out’ chants began when William Mocquet was replaced by Clive Moyo-Modise as Parkin hoped to alter Dale’s line of attack. The perceived error was not in bringing on Modise, who is capable of bringing a different element to the front line, but in hauling off Mocquet who had played a major role in Dale’s best two first half chances; whipping a low cross for Sako to tap in, only for the ball to get stuck between the gangly striker’s legs, and then producing the best out of home keeper Asmir Begovic after turning inside the last defender and firing a powerful close range shot.

Sako, who enjoyed success in the early part of his short Rochdale career and became something of a cult figure amongst the fans, has quickly begun to look more like a waste of a large amount of space. Like a poor man’s Kanu, he is more often ridiculous than sublime.

Parkin’s tactical error was belied not by the fact that Mocquet continued where he left off in the second half, he did not do so, but that Ernie Cooksey, a central player by trade, is clearly not a left winger capable of matching his colleague on the opposite flank. Cooksey, through little fault of his own, simply because he hasn’t the trickery or pace to get to the by-line found himself constantly having to check back when receiving the ball and largely producing ineffective diagonal crosses that were easily dealt with by the always excellent Macclesfield back line.

The Rochdale manager responded to the chants from the terraces by saying, “The substitutions were meant to change things but I accept the criticism from them [the fans], it’s part and parcel of the game, you have to take it on the chin.”

Cooksey’s one decent cross, led to the visitors closest chance of an equaliser. Even so the cross was hardly great but the arced neck and looping header of substitute Glenn Murray were and he was left to curse his luck as the ball rebounded off the angle of post and bar.

Cooksey might have been more effective in getting on the end of crosses, rather than supplying them, but when he ghosted in to head an excellent John Doolan pass at the far post he could only find a well positioned Begovic who blocked his effort away.

This all came after a period early in the second half in which Rochdale lost the plot and Macclesfield took the lead. Some, not for the first time this season, laughable Rochdale defending gave the Silkmen their unlikely goal; Nathan Stanton left a back pass woefully short, allowing Matty McNeil to challenge Matthew Gilks in the Dale goal. The ball broke to Jordan Hadfield on the edge of the box and he returned it for McNeil to sidefoot the winner.

“You can’t afford to switch off against ten men,” said Parkin. “The one thing that you can’t do is you can’t lose concentration and that’s what we did. We gave an awful goal away, the reaction from everybody was always going to be one of ‘why are we losing 1-0 to ten men’, which I totally understand.”

Since the sending off of Alan Navarro, for elbowing John Doolan, in the thirty-eighth minute Macclesfield had played with their ten men firmly behind the ball and they reverted back to type after they opened the scoring and made it very hard for the visitors to recreate the chances of the first half, despite Rochdale, as one might expect, dominating the possession.

Unfortunate sets of circumstances had, prior to this game, prevented Macclesfield’s first win this season, but this time they were not to be undone as they protected a lead that Rochdale did not seem to know how to threaten until Murray’s introduction; as well as his header the substitute also saw his well struck shot sail inches wide in injury time.

Man of the Match
Matty McNeil – He deserves the award for scoring the goal that gave Macclesfield their first win in twenty attempts alone, but he also put in the hard yards, leading the Macclesfield line on his own during the second half.

Attendance: 1472

Macclesfield: Begovic, Regan, Swailes, Scott (Jennings 25), McIntyre, Hadfield, Navarro, Bullock, Tolley, Murphy (Heath 46), McNeil.
Subs Not Used: Miles, Tipton, Cooper.

Sent Off: Navarro

Rochdale: Gilks, Brown, Stanton, McArdle, Goodall, Jones, Doolan, Cooksey, Dagnall, Sako (Murray 67), Mocquet (Moyo-Modise 73).
Subs Not Used: Ramsden, Clarke, Crooks.

Attempts (on target): Macclesfield 5 (1) Rochdale 11 (4)
Free kicks: Macclesfield 17 Rochdale 14
Offside: Macclesfield 4 Rochdale 8
Corners: Macclesfield 2 Rochdale 6

Referee: U Rennie