ALTHOUGH the point at home to Aldershot wasn’t quite to his liking, John Askey has seen enough to know it could make all the difference as the final furlong comes into view.
Macc Town are right in the thick of the race for the title, with a play-off place the minimum he expects from his men.
And after below-par performances – not least that in the 4-0 shocker at Eastleigh – the boss was delighted that, with the minor injury and illness crisis just about over, his men were back to something like their best against the Shots. And Macc's defence - without the services of injured full-backs Andy Halls and Scott Barrow - kept a third straight clean sheet in Tuesday night's home win over bottom club Telford.
“We created more chances and played far better than we have in the last three or four games and we’re starting to get people back now,” he said after Saturday’s stalemate.
“Bully (Paul Turnbull) is coming back and Danny (Whitaker) has had not a troubled week but a hectic week (the Wilmslow star became a father again) so I was pleased with that under those conditions.
“I’m disappointed that we’ve only got a draw, we could have got all three points and with the top two losing we could have got ourselves into a great position but it wasn’t to be. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t – it’s still a point towards top spot. Hopefully the ball will start going in the back of the net.”
Outside the play-off places but with games in hand, sixth-place Eastleigh complete the picture for Askey, below, who feels one of the current top six will miss out come April.
And he remains confident in his players’ abilities – confident that, with a fresh face up front, they can go all the way over the next seven weeks.
Denny Johnstone, whose loan spell was curtailed by Birmingham City, only for him to be shipped straight out again to Cheltenham, has ended his spell with the Robins.
The former Celtic man hit three in nine Silkmen outings, and Askey would certainly know what he was getting were he to engineer a return to the Moss Rose for the striker.
While Barrow remains sidelined with injury Halls limped out of Saturday’s match with a hamstring problem.
Both full-backs out of action would be a major concern, were it not for the shifts put in by Alex Grant and Dan Cowan.
“The last thing we want is for both our first-choice full-backs to be out," added Askey.
“Having said that I thought Dan Cowan came on against Aldershot and did really well so in that right-back spot we’ve always got plenty of cover.
“We could do with Scott coming back but there again you could say Alex (Grant) played as well as anyone against Aldershot. So they’re not the main concern at the moment.
“We’re still trying to get a centre-forward in at the moment, someone who can go beyond the back four.
“As good as Waide and Barnesy are, they’re not the type of players to run in behind so we could do with something a bit different, just for some fresh legs and so that we can play slightly differently.
“It looks like it’s between six teams really for the play-offs and automatic, so we have to just concentrate on the next game and not get carried away, we just want to make sure that we finish strongly.”
