With more character in his squad than you'd find in a dozen pantomimes, John Askey was left virtually bereft of negatives as Macclesfield sunk Alfreton.
Some teams, many in fact, would have gulped at the prospect of chasing the game when falling behind to hosts who'd won their last three matches.
But what followed was the perfect way to kick off Macc’s seasonal celebrations. Only penalties – one that beat Rhys Taylor, the other missed by Waide Fairhurst – marred a fine performance.
And the boss was quick to give his players all due respect, since none of them let their standards slip in registering their most emphatic league win since he took the reins.
“When you go one down you do worry, especially around Christmas time because you never know how players are going to be,” revealed Askey after a brilliant 5-1 humbling of their hosts. “But full credit to them, I thought we played really well today.
"There were a lot of good performances through the team, obviously Matthew (Barnes-Homer) stood out. They couldn’t handle him, that’s his best performance for us since he’s come back, so I’m really pleased for him. We probably should have let him have the penalty but sometimes you make mistakes. I’m just pleased for him and for the team.”
With Barnes-Homer on a hat-trick, he was the one who won a penalty in the 70th minute, and many were surprised it was Fairhurst who stepped up, only to be denied by Alfreton keeper George Willis.
But Askey, no doubt Christmas cheered by the three-goal advantage at that point, can live with the miss.
“Waide was our nominated penalty taker and if you nominate someone they should take it,” he reasoned.
“If it had been in the last minute when you’re two or three goals up then it’s OK to change but Waide made Barnesy’s second. He was very unselfish then so there’s no reason why he shouldn’t have taken the penalty. And it’s nice to be able to squabble over things like that.”
After Barnes-Homer’s brace it was Danny Whitaker who crashed in a third goal to all but kill off Alfreton’s hopes, and his manager was delighted, especially as he could have gone into the game without the Wilmslow midfielder.
“I’m glad we appealed Danny Whit’s red card looking at the third goal,” he added. “There were a lot of good performances but he was fantastic today, he’s scored goals like that throughout his career. He’s made a difference for us today so it was an important card to get rescinded, luckily it was.
“Goals give people confidence and belief and that’s true of Chris and Denny (Holroyd and Johnstone, who added the fourth and fifth goals), I’m really pleased for them too.
“I can’t criticise them for anything today but we just have to make sure we don’t get carried away by this result.”
