Danny Whitaker will be free to face Alfreton this Saturday, after the FA upheld Macclesfield Town’s appeal.
Whitaker was shown a red card for a foul on Simon Richman in the second half of the FA Trophy defeat at Altrincham last weekend.
The one-match suspension would have meant Askey couldn't call upon the Wilmslow man for a tricky fixture at an Alfreton side who've picked up their form in recent weeks. With Paul Lewis and Will Haining still absent through injury Whitaker's availability is a handy fillip for the second-placed Silkmen.
The midfielder's dismissal at Moss Lane incensed Macc, not least their manager John Askey (above), who this week confirmed: “He’s got off with it, they’ve overturned it, it was a ridiculous red card anyway.
“Scott Barrow’s come from the side of the man and won the ball from a player that was about 35 or 40 yards from goal with men around him and the referee said that Danny’s stopped a goalscoring opportunity.
“There were people around him and to say that is ridiculous.
“We can’t change what happened in the game but the main thing is that it won’t cost us with a ban for Danny in the next game.
“It’s the first time I’ve appealed a red card as a manager – I had to because it was totally the wrong decision – but I know with most appeals in the past they side with the referee. We've had concerns about the standard of refereeing this season and especially in cup competitions, it's really poor.
“I’m just glad they’ve come to what I feel is the right decision though.”
With Whitaker cleared to play at the Impact Arena there’s more good news for Askey, who expects to have another key midfielder, captain Paul Turnbull, and goalkeeper Rhys Taylor available after both missed out at Altrincham.
“Bully is fine, he just wasn’t fit to play at Altrincham with a groin problem but he’s OK now,” confirmed the boss, who’s led his side to second in the table, already just five points short of his 50-point target for the season. “And Rhys had a calf problem, he just hadn’t trained after the Aldershot game so we had to leave him out.
“He’s not trained properly yet this week either but we think he should be OK for Alfreton too."
Further up the field Matthew Barnes-Homer hadn't trained in the early stages of the week as the striker has been suffering with illness but is expected to travel to the Impact Arena to face the Reds, who currently sit fourth from bottom in the Conference table but have beaten Nuneaton, Eastleigh and Lincoln in their last three games.
Their visit to the Moss Rose last month saw Scott Barrow and Waide Fairhurst on target in a 2-0 win.
