Birthday brace for Macclesfield FC captain in 3-1 Congleton Town win
Macclesfield FC captain Lauren Mendy scored two goals on his birthday, to ensure victory against Congleton.
Crewe Alexandra's Mornflake Stadium was the venue for the game, where Macclesfield came from behind to defeat Cheshire East rivals Congleton Town FC.
While the fixture was meant to be hosted in Congleton as an away game for The Silkmen, crowd trouble at the previous meeting between the two sides forced a neutral venue to be chosen.
Macclesfield FC youth players walked onto the pitch before the game. A memory which will be particularly special at Crewe Alexandra's ground is a Football League venue.
With The Silkmen's fate already sealed as champions of the division, the feeling before the match felt a little bit like a summer friendly for our town's new football club. This feeling was emphasised by the ground not being full.
The 10,153 capacity of the Mornflake Stadium - also known as Gresty Road - was filled with mostly Macclesfield fans. 1236 Macclesfield fans made the 21-mile trip to Crewe.
The first chance of the game was Congleton's, as captain Tom Pope - who used to play for Crewe - found the end of a cross just over the bar.
Macclesfield FC defender Lee Jackson brought down striker Oliver Putnam just inside the penalty area.
31-year-old Defender Darren Chadwick cooly converted the spot kick in the third minute, which meant Congleton Town were beating the league champions.
The Bears would dominate the next couple of minutes. In retaliation, the chanting Silkmen fans sung "There's only one team for Cheshire".
The second foul of the game was also in Macc's penalty area, in almost the same spot as the penalty conceded.
But this time it was against Silks keeper Sam Ashton, and committed by Putnam, who previously went down for Congleton's penalty.
The 20-year-old received a yellow card, as Silks veteran keeper Sam Ashton had to recieve treatment before carrying on.
Macc then began to pile the pressure on, in an attempt to reverse the Bears' early lead.
A lofty corner was deflected by Congleton Town's Shakeel Jones-Griffiths. But this was not enough to break the Macclesfield momentum, as The Silkmen would soon level the pegging.
In the 13th minute, James Berry-McNally struck a thunderbolt just shy of Congleton's eighteen yard box that rattled the right of Congleton's net, to level the scoring.
The ex-Altrincham player has been on fire recently, scoring a brace when The Silkmen were confirmed champions against Ashton Athletic.
Since he signed a permanent deal with the club, he is averaging almost two goals a game.
Berry is a key player for Macclesfield FC at just 21 years old, and is also close to the fans' hearts.
Macclesfield FC fans would even devote a rendition of ABBA's Gimme, Gimme, Gimme to him, shortly after scoring his goal.
Congleton quickly fought back with chances, and were not rattled by The Silkmen's equaliser with chances at both ends as the half-an-hour mark approached.
Then, Congleton's No. 10 William Buckley went down in a foul near the dugouts in the 32nd minute.
The midfielder received treatment for three minutes which put a stop to the match, and broke the end-to-end flow of the game.
As play resumed, another Congleton free kick was won, this time on the towards the 'D' of the Silkmen's penalty area.
However, while he was not involved in the foul, Buckley was down again requiring more treatment.
Almost eight minutes had passed before a decision was made to take the wounded Bears player off. Ryan Read came on for the injured player.
Macclesfield's pink-clad goalie Sam Ashton then quickly punched the free kick away, only for another foul in Congleton's favour to be given seconds later.
It would be the 41st minute until the Silkmen would get the ball back into Congleton's half, after the injury stoppages. As a result seven minutes were added on at the end of the first half.
A Macclesfield free kick straight into Congleton's wall, and poor Macclesfield corner were the only major efforts on goal in stoppage time. Half-time 1-1.
Congleton came out working hard at the start of the second half, with an over-the-bar free kick and Tom Pope chance to give the league's ninth-placed team a hope in beating the champions.
Congleton did well to stop Macc in midfield in the first 15 minutes of the second half, with a strategy of hoofing the ball forward towards skipper Tom Pope.
They shouted for a penalty when Shakeel Jones-Griffiths was brought down for in the 52nd minute. A free kick was won, but the chance was squandered.
In the 55th minute, the Silkmen decided to make a double substitution, with youngsters Alex Kiwomya and Bobbie McDonnell coming on to replace Harry Freedman and Callum West respectively.
The changes had an instant impact. McDonnell received a grounded cross from Tom Clare and tested David Parton to get a weak hand to it, until an offside flag was raised.
In the 61st minute, January signing Mark Duffy passed to Tom Clare on the edge of the penalty box.
Despite being held by a Congleton Town defender, Clare cooly rolled the ball off his right foot to find Laurent Mendy who shot a deflected effort into the net.
The Macclesfield captain ran straight towards The Silkmen fans to celebrate, and raised the number seven towards the crowd.
Play restarted with a Macclesfield onslaught. Berry bent a free kick straight into the keepers palms, and Clare was prevented from scoring at close range.
A Laurent Mendy-cleared Congleton free-kick was the only respite for the Bears, as they continued to received shot after shot from Silkmen players.
Congleton's Ryan Read was then booked as the Silkmen's attack pushed for a third goal.
This culminated in the 77th minute with Laurent Mendy scoring his second birthday goal of the game.
The skipper kept running after a teammate went down on a penalty appeal, as the ref signalled play on, he kicked a powerful shot from just outside the penalty area into the bottom left corner. 3-1 Macclesfield.
The last ten minutes were all Macclesfield, however, the three minutes of stoppage time brought on a valiant flurry of chances from the Congleton players, who could've easily thrown the towel in.
Congleton's man of the match, Tom Pope hit the top of the crossbar. And tested Sam Ashton to smother the ball to prevent a Congleton consolation goal right at the depth.
Congleton were unlucky to have not made more of a mark on the game. But with two of the Silkmen's goals being screamers, Macclesfield were worthy winners.
The Silkmen register their 27th win of the campaign, while Congleton record their 14th league loss.
The victory now sees Macclesfield FC on 91 points at the top of the league. Meanwhile, Congleton risk missing out on a top 10 finish, if they don't pick up their form in the final few games.
Speaking after Macclesfield FC's eleventh away victory of the season, Manager Danny Whitaker said: "I'm delighted in the end."
"[We] made hard work of it [in] the first half. Playing a little be too safe if I'm honest. Not enough runs from behind to stretch them and disturb them.
"We had a chat at half time, changed a few things and dominated the second half."
FULL TIME: Macclesfield FC 3 - 1 Congleton Town
Total Attendance 1668
1236 Macclesfield fans
492 Congleton fans
See Also: WATCH: Macclesfield FC promoted as champions in comfy win overAshton Athletic
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