Tims 92

Macclesfield Town

Moss Rose

Ground No. 57

Visited - Saturday 5th February 2005
Result - Macclesfield Town 3-1 Yeovil Town
Competition - Coca-Cola League 2
Attendance - 2471

With Wolves' game against Sunderland having been put back 24 hours, it gave me the opportunity to add another ground to the list, so after looking through the fixtures, I decided to pay Moss Rose, the home of Macclesfield Town a visit.

The preparation for the game wasn’t exactly as much as I normally do for most matches, so after checking the train timetables, and printing a map off the night before, I got the train northwards in a kind of hopeful mood, not really knowing what to expect of the ground, only having heard many people criticising it, with a few saying it was by far the worst in the league.

The train up to Macclesfield didn’t take too long, only about 40 minutes, being direct from Wolverhampton, so I arrived with plenty of time to spare, and made my way into the town centre to have a look around. It wasn’t the biggest of places, but it seemed fairly charming, situated at the top of a hill, with valleys surrounding it. After seeing all there was to see, I set off on the walk to the ground, which despite being a fair way, didn’t really take all that long. It was strange walking down the long road from the centre of town, because you really don’t see the ground until its right in front of you.

I'd arrived quite a bit earlier than I would have liked, so spent some time going around the outside, before managing to get inside to take some pictures. Once inside it’s a bit better than the exterior, which has a real non-league type feel about it, with it being possibly the least imposing ground that I've visited. But the interior of the ground is less bland, with there being plenty of character, from the Star Lane Ends mixture of terraces and seats, all contained under a low roof, to the mostly open, yet traditional looking Main Stand. The McAlpine stand really helps balance the ground, being modern, and attractive, with only the open away end letting it down really. The unusual floodlights only help add to the ground.

After getting the pictures of inside and chatting to a steward for a while, I was a bit stuck for a few hours, thinking what to do. It was too far to walk back into town, so decided to go down to what looked like some shops just down the road, before a friend I was due to be meeting drove past beeping his horn!

After meeting him, we hung around for a while, waiting for the club shop to open, and then after buying a programme and a pin badge, went back up towards the Star Lane End to go in at about 2pm. I had originally planned on going in the away end with the Yeovil fans, but it had been drizzling on and off all day, so we thought better of it, and opted for a roof, which proved the right decision, when it started to rain throughout the game!

The Star Lane End that we were in was quite a good little stand, the facilities were good, and it offered a decent view, free of any pillars, it also seemed to be where the noisiest fans were, with the home supporters keeping up a good atmosphere all afternoon.

After taking some pictures, the game got started, and Yeovil looked the brighter, making some good passing movements and generally looking like a team top of the table. Despite this though, it was Macclesfield who created most of the chances, and they had a goal disallowed for offside, which seemed a harsh decision by the referee, not that it mattered when on 38 minutes they really did take the lead through a nice strike from Matthew Tipton. The half finished 1-0 to the home side, with them really dominating the game, taking it to Yeovil.

When the second half started, almost immediately Macclesfield increased their lead with Graham Potter firing home after a goalmouth scramble, in which the ball seemed like it would never go in! After this Yeovil never really looked like getting anything out of the game, despite having a fair amount of possession, Alan Fettis, in goal for the home side was rarely troubled. There was an amusing incident late on, after another Macclesfield attack, the netting on the goal nearest to us was ripped away from the goalpost following one of the players sliding into it. As the Yeovil keeper went to take the goal kick, the crowd were shouting and pointing at the net, with the referee looking on, unaware that anything was wrong, not noticing until two of the ground staff came running on the pitch to fix it! With the net fixed the game was resumed and Macclesfield increased their lead once more, this time from a corner, when Potter got his second of the game, firing home through a crowded area. Yeovil did have time to go down to the other end and score a late consolation, thanks in part to the 5 minutes of injury time, but the result was never in doubt, and it finished 3-1 to the ‘Silkmen’.

After leaving the ground, I went back to the station, and caught the train home, arriving back in good time, and good spirit.

Overall it was probably one of the better trips that I've had this season, certainly for a neutral game. It’s a nice ground, despite what the reports I'd heard beforehand had said, and the fans seemed passionate, with the stewards relaxed and friendly. It helped that the game had been entertaining, so all in all was a good day out, and a ground that I’ll be glad to go back to one of the days.