FA CUP - Macclesfield Town 3 - 1 Marine

Competition: FA Cup

Level: Fourth Qualifying Round

Teams: Macclesfield Town - Marine

Venue: Moss Rose

Two firsts for me:  My first FA Cup match prior to the First Round Proper, and my first visit to Macclesfield - the town, as well as the football ground.  On the former point, I wasn't disappointed, this being a great advert for the FA Cup in general, and non-league football in particular.  Although the town of Macclesfield is really quite run-down and depressing.  The ground, is a lovely non-league ground though, and whilst showing it's age in some areas, is four-sided, and a combination of terracing (though the main terracing at one end was shut for the game) and seating.  The ground itself looks somewhat odd, since the Main Stand (on the opposite side of the pitch from the Henshaw's Stand, where I was seated) has a tall central seating section, with terracing either side, as seen below.  However, the Henshaw's Stand is a new and quite modern-looking stand, and I found the facilities to be excellent, the kiosks easily catering for the away following during half-time, when alcohol is supplied, in the form of larger, bitter, cider or wine, as well as the more traditional tea, coffee, bovril and pies.  Over to my right is the Star Lane End, an odd stand with seating to the front, and terracing to the rear.  This stand seemed to have the more vocal of the Silkmen's supporters.

A Panorama of the ground

The (empty) terracing, during a Marine corner

The Marine fans were in fine voice, in spite of a somewhat dodgy penalty given in the 41st minute for a handball by Danny Grannon, who appeared to handle the ball by accident, and most damningly of all was outside the box when the alledged offence occurred.  Nonetheless, Matthew Barnes-Homer was happy to hammer home from twelve yards.

A second goal just after the hour mark, after good chances by both sides, appeared to end Marine's faint hopes, Barnes-Homer again scoring, this time from a slightly closer range than his first, simply tapping home from barely 5 yards out..

The Marine fans, accepting their fate perhaps, and revelling in their status as underdogs began some slightly unusual chants, including "George Osbourne, Get out of First Class", a reference to the Chancellor (and MP for Tatton, in Cheshire)'s recent misdemeanor, and the exceptional (in my view) "Let's pretend, Let's pretend, Let's pretend we scored a goal", followed by a good 45 seconds a celebration, all of which left the home fans somewhat bemused!

The Marine players thank the fans at the end

In the final few minutes, hope was restored, with Marcus Carver scoring a lovely header which looped into the bottom corner from a flighted ball in from the left, however, a counterattack just four minutes later ended the Mariner's Cup run for this season, the final nail hammered into the coffin by the head of Amari Morgan-Smith.  The sizeable away crowd of 235from a total attendance of 1,189 giving their lads a great reception at the final whistle.

 I really enjoyed my day out at Macclesfield, and only wished I'd had the time for a pint in one of the local watering holes afterwards.  The Marine supporters, in common with a lot of lower league teams, appeared have selected Marine as their second team - most of them being Liverpool and Everton fans (much like in Sheffield, where United and Wednesday shirts are a common site at Sandygate Road and the Coach and Horses).  However, they gave a great account of themselves and their team, and I would certainly watch another of their matches in future.