Match Report - Colne 1 Macclesfield 2

Colne kicked off their pre-season warm up games with a home fixture against a Macclesfield XI at the Haffners Eats Stadium on Saturday. The Reds side included many familiar faces plus a sprinkling of trialists, all keen to make an impression.

Macclesfield made a bright start and had the ball in the net after 13 minutes only for the effort to be ruled out for offside. But Macc went one better after 18 minutes when a long high ball into the Reds goalmouth was caught by the strong wind and finished in the top corner of the net leaving the keeper flat-footed and giving the visitors the lead.

Colne looked for a quick reply with Dan Ajidagba and Miles Storey opening up the visitors’ defence and testing the Macclesfield keeper with some good efforts. And in the run-up to half time, the Reds promised an equaliser with some good approach work by Jamie Walker and Luke Stowe and came close as the Macc keeper turned goal-bound shots against the woodwork in a good period of pressure for Colne.

As the second half began, Colne levelled the scores at 1-1 when Barney Wiggin drove through the visitors’ defence and chipped the ball over the advancing keeper.

As the game developed into an end-to-end contest, both sides created chances in the oppositions’ goalmouths with some heart-stopping moments as the ball ricocheted off the woodwork at both ends of the field. But the scoresheet remained level until three minutes from the final whistle when Macclesfield grabbed a late winner with a well taken shot into the bottom corner of the Colne goal to round off an entertaining game for the 191 spectators.