Macclesfield Town will be hoping for some home comfort after two away games brought no goals and no points.

Lincoln City held out worryingly easily with 10 men after they'd taken a two-goal lead last Saturday and John Askey's men were denied a point at Altrincham in midweek by James Lawrie's 90th-minute winner.

And although those two losses leave Macc in a season-low position of 11th they'll be all-out to get back to winning ways on home turf with two games inside four days at the Moss Rose.

It won't be straightforward though, as big-spending Forest Green Rovers and league leaders Barnet are the two visitors.

“We didn't play very well at Altrincham, but a point each would have been a fair result,” said manager John Askey. “We had plenty of space in which to play but we didn't use it well enough.

“Other than their goal they didn't do anything to deserve the three points either. We had one or two chances and we should have taken them, they were decent opportunities.

“But I was concerned that one or two of our lads looked a bit overawed by the occasion, when they should really have been spurred on, that was a bit surprising.”

 

(above) Club captain Paul Turnbull tweeted this to the Silkmen fans after Tuesday night

By contrast, Forest Green have climbed to eighth, thanks to a run of three wins and one defeat in five games.

And as well as Lee Hughes, who once commanded a transfer fee of £5M, they come armed with two players sure to get a good reception at Macc, Jon Parkin and Sam Wedgbury.

'The Beast' left the Moss Rose to join Hull in 2006 and, via Stoke, Cardiff, Preston North End and Fleetwood among others, joined Forest Green in the summer. On target in their Tuesday-night win over Torquay, the striker's hit five this season.

'The Beast' Jon Parkin
 

As for England C international Wedgbury, he left for Stevenage in 2013 with the warm wishes of supporters, who voted him as their player-of-the-year. That award was matched by players themselves, in a clean sweep for the hugely-popular midfielder.

Four former Silkmen – Connor Jennings at Wrexham, Chester's John Rooney, Scott Boden of Halifax and Lincoln's Ben Tomlinson – have found the net against Macc this term, and Askey has at least come up with a novel way of nullifying Parkin.

Sam Wedgbury was a firm favourite with Macc supporters
 

“I've spoken to Jon recently, he's still a very good player and he's scored goals already this year, he'll be looking forward to coming back,” he said. “Forest Green are paying him good money, some teams can afford to.

“I think our best chance of stopping him would be if I take him away and fill him up with pies before the game. And we all know what a really good player Sam Wedgbury is so it'll be a tough game for us.”

Askey will once again be unable to select Danny Whitaker. The midfielder has a compressed disc in his back, put down to wear and tear over time, and the timescale for his return is unclear.

If Luke Waterfall and Will Haining came through the week without reactions to their returns at Alty after knee and calf problems respectively they'll make the squad for tomorrow's clash.