Saturday 29th March 2008

Kick-off 3pm

The Silkmen are looking to make it three home wins on the bounce when they entertain Accrington Stanley on Saturday. Games between the two sides are typically full of goals, sixteen in fact in our three encounters with John Coleman's team since they returned to the Football League two years ago. But the Moss Rose faithful will happily settle for a 1-0 victory and three much needed points in our battle to climb away from the bottom two.

KEITH'S THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
"We had a great result against Barnet on Monday and we've got a fantastic opportunity to follow that up with another win on Saturday. If we can win all our home games then it is going to be very difficult for sides below us to catch us up. But we shouldn't be looking too far ahead or thinking we are safe with the eight point gap. Things can change very quickly and we need to be on our game against Stanley who have picked up some good results on their travels."

OPPO's CURRENT FORM

Stanley arrive at the Moss Rose on the back of three straight defeats and looking to recapture some of the form that saw them beat Rotherham and Millmoor earlier this month. Inconsistency would appear to be their biggest problem, their inability to put together any run of note the reason why they currently sit 17th in the table with 45 points from 40 games, only three of them ending in draws.


Away from home their record reads: P20 W8 D2 L10 F25 A40 Pts 26

Beaten:

Wycombe (1-0), Bradford (3-0), Dagenham (3-1), Morecambe (1-0), Grimsby (2-1), Mansfield (2-1), Chester (3-2), Rotherham (1-0)

Drawn:

Barnet (2-2), Hereford (0-0)

Lost:

Lincoln (2-0), Shrewsbury (2-0), Bury (2-1), MK Dons (5-0), Stockport (2-0), Peterborough (8-2), Darlington (1-0), Brentford (3-1), Rochdale (4-1), Chesterfield (4-2)

LATEST ODDS

Bet365 make the Silkmen favourites at Evens to win the game. Stanley are at 12/5 to pick up all three points with the draw at 5/2.

ONE TO WATCH - Paul Mullin

Centre Forward Mullin has amassed over 200 games for Stanley since he arrived at the club from Radcliffe Borough in 2001. And he averaged almost a goal every two and half games in that time and currently is the club's leading scorer with thirteen goals, one coming in our defeat at the Fraser Eagle Stadium back in October.

PAST ENCOUNTERS

Since Stanley made their return to the Football League we have met of three occasions and to date we have yet to record our first win, picking up just a solitary point from the game at the Moss in December 2006. Tolley, Bullock and Murphy were on the score sheet for the Silkmen in the 3-3 draw.

The teams on display that day were as follows.

Macclesfield: Lee, Regan, Swailes, Jennings, McIntyre, Heath (Miles 76), Tolley, Hadfield, Bullock, McNeil (Tipton 59), Murphy

Subs not used: Smart, Morley, Izak Reid

Accrington: Elliot, Ventre, Welch, Edwards, Richardson, Todd, Harris, Proctor, Jacobson, Mullin, McGivern (Mangan 34)

Subs not used: Dunbavin, McDonald, Dugdale, Byrom

Bookings: Regan (Macclesfield) Jacobson, Ventre (Accrington)

Attendance: 2242