MACC Town manager Keith Alexander can finally look forward to this weekend’s big clash with Everton.

A tricky festive period saw Macc concede four goals in each of their matches against Dagenham and Redbridge and Morecambe but Sunday’s victory at home to Chester City means that the Silkmen closed 2008 on a high note.

The Cheshire derby victory, their fourth of the season at the Moss Rose, means that, at the halfway point of the League Two campaign, Macc sit healthily in 14th place, with the Premiership giants next up.

Alexander had banned talk of the Toffees from the club in recent weeks as the players struggled to maintain a run that saw them gather 11 points from six games.

The 3-1 victory over Chester, courtesy of goals from Nat Brown, Gareth Evans and Martin Gritton, rescued what looked to be a wretched Christmas on the field for Macc.

Now, with league action over until the long trip trip to Exeter City on January 6, Alexander and his men can finally turn their attentions to the Premier League side.

The prime concern for Alexander, who reverted to a five-man backline on Sunday in an attempt to stop leaking goals, will be the personnel he selects, and in which formation.

"We can start thinking about the Everton game now," said Alexander after the Chester game. "It’s nice to go into that on the back of a win and there will be one or two who will be worried about whether they’ll play or not, which is a nice situation for me to be in.

"We’ve made changes and we won the game today. If we’d gone out and lost there would be one or two waiting to ask why they weren’t playing."

Two of the players who staked their claims for a place on Saturday are Richard Walker and James Jennings.

The former helped shore up a defence that had leaked 10 goals in the previous three games, while the latter impressed with his work at both ends of the field, and providing the cross for Nat Brown’s opening goal.

"I am rotating players," Alexander explained. "I thought Richard took a little while to settle in but the team I’d been picking is one I’d stuck with for the last five or six games.

"We’ve had a lot of people not performing, for whatever reason, We’ve either been brilliant or very poor, there’s been no inbetween.

"They’d had their chance and it was only fair that lads like JJ and Richard got a chance to show what they can do. JJ was excellent. He’s a whole-hearted, committed player and I thought he was excellent."

Their involvement next weekend should depend on whether the manager plays four or five in defence.

"We've played some good stuff playing 4-4-2, it’s just that we’ve conceded a lot of goals so we needed to make a change," he said.

"Everton’s a different game. People keep telling me they’ve got no forwards but they keep winning every week so it’ll be tough.

"I haven’t decided yet which way we’re going to go."