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Bournemouth 0 Macclesfield Town 1

17/ 9/2008

AN OUTSTANDING defensive display secured Macc Town’s second straight win at crisis club Bournemouth.

Gareth Evans put the Silkmen ahead with less than two minutes on the clock, but the young striker’s red card for an alleged elbow on Darren Anderton saw Macc battle for more than 70 minutes to preserve the lead.

Evans latched onto a long ball from Terry Dunfield and showed Joel Ward and Jason Pearce a clean pair of heels before slotting neatly past Cherries keeper Shwan Jalal.

It was the Silkmen’s 600th goal in the Football League but the club’s fifth sending-off, just nine games into the season, was just around the corner.

In the 17th minute, Evans’ contribution ended when referee David Phillips judged that he led with an elbow during an aerial challenge with the former England midfielder and showed him a red card.

Manager Keith Alexander named an unchanged starting team from the previous weekend’s win over Luton Town, and the remaining Macc players dug in to defend their advantage.

The hosts were the more likely to score but a succession of long-range shots that failed to trouble Jonny Brain saw the 10 Silkmen turn around still a goal to the good.

Led by the towering defensive duo of Shaun Brisley and Paul Morgan, Macc soaked up the pressure from Bournemouth, for whom Brett Pitman was the biggest culprit for wayward shooting.

Early in the second half, Scott Wagstaff put in a sharp cross for Lee Bradbury but the striker’s close-range header was turned over.

Brain was in sterling form and, after watching Danny Hollands’ fierce drive fly past his post, the keeper pulled off a sharp save at his near post to deny Anderton a late leveller after good build-up play from the Cherries’ Josh McQuoid and Jeff Goulding.