John Askey was in no doubt that Macc Town deserved their win over Lincoln, and he’s determined to stay ahead of the chasing pack and catch Barnet.
A play-off place would have been dismissed as pie in the sky last summer. Macclesfield were short on cash, players and hope but Askey has now taken his team above the big hitters of Bristol Rovers.
And with a few more outings like the one that saw off Lincoln that eight-point gap to the Bees – which could shrink to five if Macc win their game in hand – isn’t insurmountable.
“It was important that we kept a clean sheet against Lincoln,” said Askey. “And getting three goals as well is great, we’ve got to keep trying to aim for Barnet and not worry about anything else.
“I know they’ve won too but there’ll be days when they don’t win and once they get under a little bit of pressure they might crumble.
“Lincoln had pressure early on, I think the wind was blowing in their favour and the slope always helps, so we knew we had to try and get a foothold in the game by playing three in midfield.
“It worked a treat. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t but it did today.
“Denny (Johnstone, above) caused them more problems with his energy and we all know that Matthew (Barnes-Homer) can play, he came on and showed a really good attitude, I was pleased for him to score, he’s done well.
“And that second was Paul Lewis’ goal, I think Waide chested it and Paul finished it off – but I don’t think they’re too bothered who scores as long as we do score.
“Paul’s done well too, he struggled a little bit in the first 30 minutes, which I expected in his second game, you get through the first one back on adrenaline and the second one's tougher, but the longer the game went on the more he grew into it, he did really well.
“And Moke got better and better too, he caused them loads of problems going on the outside of his man, as Rowey did when he came on, he gave us a little bit of control and kept the ball, he put a great ball in for Barnesy, so it’s been a good day and hopefully we’ll have one or two more before the end of the season.”
To aid his cause Askey has been desperately hoping for an influx of cash, since he has just two centre-backs, Alex Grant and George Pilkington.
While both have performed admirably just one strain or twang could spell the end of their involvement.
And that could prove a cruel knockout blow for Askey, who continues to swim against the tide.
“We’d like to bring a defender in but I’ve spoken to the chairman and things are really tight, no money’s come in since the start of the season, other than what’s come in through the gate," he added.
“Hopefully they’ll keep increasing but as I’ve said before we can’t spend what we haven’t got, nobody’s putting any money in so we can’t go and get anybody really.
“We’re happy with what we’ve got, we just hope we don’t get an injury, especially in the centre-half position because we just haven’t got any cover.”
