Macclesfield Town: Jose Veiga, Izak Reid (Lewis Chalmers 89), Carl Tremarco, Shaun Brisley (Hamza Bencherif 75), Nat Brown (c ), Paul Bolland, Richard Butcher (Sam Wedgbury 60), Matt Hamshaw, Tyrone Barnett, Emile Sinclair, Vinny Mukendi

Subs: Jason Beardsley, Jack Cudworth, Ross Draper, Colin Daniel,

Town: Ben Smith (Chris Neal 21), David Raven, Mat Sadler, Sean McAllister, Ian Sharps (c ), Mark Wright, Matt Harrold, Jake Robinson (Benjamin Van Den Broek 60), Lionel Ainsworth, Daniel O'Donnell, Craig Disley

Subs: Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Steve Leslie, Lewis Neal,, Harry Hooman, Tom Bradshaw

Goal: M. Harrold

Ref: M Haywood
Assistants: C Kavanagh and M Sailsbury
Fourth Official: P C Wright

Attendance: 2302

It is the same again for Town as manager Graham Turner sticks with the side who did so well to come back on Tuesday night and beat Charlton Athletic.

Town got off to a great start after Mat Sadler picked the ball up on the left hand side, he powered forward rolling several tackles on his way before bursting to the by line and then into the box before pulling it back for Matt Harrold to strike the ball past Veiga and give Town a 1-0 lead.

There looked to be an early change for Town when Chris Neal was stripped and ready to join the action. Mike Jackson handed the slip to the fourth official and it looked like a change to the keepers but Ben Smith made his point known to the bench that he was ok to carry on.

Macclesfield were pushing to get back on level terms and they were causing the Town defence a number of problems. There were a few scary moments but the back line was holding strong and dealing with the increasing pressure from the home side.

With 21 minutes on the clock Town did make their first change of the afternoon and it was the switch that looked like it would happen earlier on. Chris Neal was on to replace Ben Smith and Smith went to the changing rooms with a couple of bags of ice.

As the game went past the half-hour mark it was the home side who were on top of the game but they weren't hurting Town with the possession. As expected Macclesfield were playing a more direct style of play and pressing the visitors but Town were soaking up the pressure and looking for the chance to counter attack.

Town were being made to work by the home side but Town were putting in the work required. Players were closing, tracking back, throwing in tackles and doing all that was required to do the best to go into the break with the lead intact.

Town nearly went into the break two goals to the good after a great little bit of link up between Wright and Robinson saw Wright burst into the box but an excellently timed last ditch tackle averted the danger.

Half-time: 1-0

Macclesfield had a great chance to go level right after the break when a hanging ball into the box finally found some space in the Town defence, Vinny Mukendi looked to have a clear head in on goal but luckily for Town his team mate Tyrone Barnett attempted to get a header in first and his saw the ball loop away from danger.

It was still a tough game test for Town and with 15 minutes of the half gone Graham Turner made his second switch of the afternoon, replacing Jake Robinson with Benjamin Van Den Broek.

Town's best opportunities of the half both fell to Mark Wright who had a could of good efforts in on goal, both were on the angle at the near post with the first curing just over the bar and the second fizzing just wide of the target. There was also a good chance for Benjamin Van Den Broek who showed good strength to get passed the final man before driving in a good shot but it was straight at Veiga who held on well.

Benjamin Van Den Broek had been having a tidy game since coming on to replace Jake Robinson but he conjured up a bit of magic to create the best opening of the half. The ball came across the field to and Van Den Broek did well to win back possession, he played it into Wright who when played a quick ball to get Van Den Broek going, he cut cross field and rode a tackle before driving in an excellent shot which beat Veiga hands down but it hit the underside of the bar and then came back out and the danger was then cleared.

It was still an end to end game at times and with minutes remaining of normal time Macclesfield had a great chance to level things, they burst forward in numbers with players over, the ball was with Tyrone Barnett who burst through the defence to put himself in on goal but Disley had tracked back and was there to nick the ball away and snuff out a great goalscoring opportunity.

With the game well into the four minutes of in jury time Macclesfield nearly levelled things when a shot was well save by Chris Neal, the ball then dropped to a Macc player who drove it towards the open goal but there was Daniel O'Donnell to clear the ball off the line.

Full-time: 1-0

A tough test for Town but one that they stood up to well to keep the good start to the season going.