MACCLESFIELD Town’s youth team played their biennial fixture against talented players from Down Under.

The South Australia Development Under-14 squad is currently on tour in Britain and they made a pit stop at the Silk youths’ Derby Fields base for their fixture against the Under-14s from the club’s Centre of Excellence. This was the Australians’ third visit to Cheshire in the last five years and strong links have been established with the Silkmen.

The 25-man touring squad fielded a team in each half but, in the closing stages, found themselves 4-1 down before they pulled back two goals to make the final score 4-3 to Macclesfield.

Centre manager Mick Holgate said: "They’re technically quite a good team. Their tour has taken them to Liverpool, Arsenal and West Ham United and they’ll be going to Milan on the next step of the tour.

"The game was played in a great spirit and we were delighted to welcome them here."