LEEK LEAD TWICE AGAINST SILKMEN

On a hot, sunny afternoon the Blues took on a new Silkmen team for a Saturday friendly match at the recently renovated Leasing.com stadium.

Leek Town travelled to Macclesfield knowing this would be a tough start to preseason for them, the Silkmen recently winning convincingly at Witton Albion. The match was on a new 3G pitch, good practice for the Leek team who are looking forward to playing on their new 3G surface at Harrison Park Stadium in late August. A large crowd of over 500 saw an evenly contested game which was a very good advertisement for both teams and a 2-2 result was probably a fair result on the day.

Both teams started brightly with Macclesfield forward Eddie Maieco having an early chance from a corner and on 5 minutes Leek's Trickett-Smith striking the post with a speculative effort. In an end to end first 20 minutes, Leek continued to move the ball quickly and knocked several longer balls over the top in an effort to expose the Silkmen back line. The Blues midfield were industrious throughout with a high press and this nearly paid off in the 18th minute when Grocott flicked on the ball from midfield to Trickett-Smith in space in the box, he took a brief moment to look up and then went down under a heavy Macclesfield tackle, surely a certain Blues penalty however this time the referee waved play on.

Macclesfield then had some good shots of their own with Maieco again showing up well and on the 20th minute, Booth made a couple of great saves for Leek. The Silkmen had failed to take their chances and then on 30 minutes Leek Town took the lead when a clear penalty was given when a neat ball found Lewis Short who was up ended at the bye line, the large crowd saw the referee point to the penalty spot and Trickett-Smith made no mistake, as he confidently sent the Silkmen keeper Ben Pierce the wrong way to put the visitors into the ascendancy, Leek 1-0 up. The goal clearly stung Macclesfield into action and while they had several corners with Curtis coming close, strong defending by Chadwick and Wara meant the Blues went into half time with a 1-0 lead.

HT Macclesfield FC 0 - Leek Town 1

Leek immediately went on the attack from the restart, with Trickett-Smith and Dickov combining well, a cross flashed across the box just eluding Grice. However, minutes later it was 1-1 as Macclesfield scored after breaching the Leek defence down the left, Maieco advanced towards the Blues keeper Booth and fired the ball home (49th minute).

Leek looked for an immediate response and forced a series of fine saves from the home keeper Pierce and Lewis Short then hitting the Silkmen post with a rasping left foot shot on the 52nd minute. Neil Baker began to shuffle the pack in order to give all players much needed minutes on the pitch.

The Blues continued to press for an equaliser and the substitution proved key as Leek Town regained the lead on the hour mark, when sub Dickov burst free and after bearing down on goal, calmly slotted the ball past the home keeper Pierce, 2-1 to Leek.

The game ebbed from end to end and Macclesfield were beginning to test the Blues further and on 70 minutes a Sam Grimshaw cross was delivered to the centre of the goal where Tom Blair connected cleanly to make the score 2-2.

There was no let up from either team in the final minutes of the second half with Trickett-Smith at the centre of Leeks attacking creativity. Towards the end, it was Trickett-Smith again who threatened the Macclesfield goal but goalkeeper Pierce made some fine saves and Leek could not get that key winning goal. When the referee blew the final whistle both teams were cheered loudly by both the Silkmen and the Blues supporters

This was a very good pre season friendly, two evenly matched teams producing competitive 100% football. Leek Town will now move on to their next game away at Rocester FC on 13th July in good spirits after this promising result.

Leek Town Manager Neil Baker said after the match "I was pleased with the performance and result against a very competitive Macclesfield, as their campaign starts earlier than ours they were a little sharper than us which was to be expected."

#WEARELEEK

FT Macclesfield FC 2 - Leek Town 2

Report by Luke Reynolds

Leek Town line up as follows

1. Booth
2. Wara
3. Harrison
4. Chadwick
5. Keenan
6. Grocott
7. Reeves
8. Wakefield
9. Short
10. Grice
11. Trickett-Smith

Substitutes : Bell, Ryder, Baker, Dickov, Bavanganga
Attendance : 525