Following defeat at league leaders Barnet on Saturday Macclesfield Town are keeping all their fingers crossed ahead of another big match in the play-off picture.
His side remain unbeaten at home and will host Woking still high on confidence.
But two of John Askey’s star turns this season – Rhys Taylor and Andy Halls – may miss out on facing the Cards.
England C defender Halls has missed the last two games with a blow to the knee, suffered against Alfreton Town.
While he’s tried returning to training it’s illness that now threatens his participation on Saturday.
More worrying is an injury to Taylor. The former Chelsea keeper has been in inspired form throughout the campaign, keeping 10 clean sheets and saving each of the three penalties he’s faced.
But the Macc manager is anxiously awaiting the result of a scan, and told the Express: “Hallsy came in on Monday but we had to send him home because he was so ill.
“Rhys has a problem with his leg, it’s something that’s been bothering him on and off for a week or so. He’s had a scan and we’re just awaiting the result. There’s a possibility that there’s some nerve damage or it could be that he’s suffered a stress fracture, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
There’s better news surrounding club captain Paul Turnbull though. The influential midfielder limped off late in the day at The Hive but was expected to be back in training on Thursday.
All three have been vital members of the Silkmen squad that's sitting pretty in fifth place.
And with Woking – who moved up to second after beating Altrincham in midweek – in form the fine home run is set to be pushed to the limit.
Away from league matters Askey and his men can set the record straight when they return to Altrincham for next weekend’s FA Trophy first-round tie.
Defeat at Moss Lane earlier this season still rankles with Askey and his players but the draw has handed them a chance to avenge that loss and take a step closer to Wembley.
Askey (below) is doubly determined, given that the FA Trophy is one prize that’s missing from his personal honours list, thanks to a potentially career-ending broken leg that kept him out when the cup last came to Macclesfield.
“It would be great to get to Wembley, obviously,” he said. “It’s a good draw for both teams, it should generate a decent gate – I just hope we can put in a better performance than we did last time.
“We’ll try to do that and we’ll be looking to progress – there are not that many games and if you play well and get a decent draw you can find yourself in the semi-finals quite quickly, and not always against the absolute best opposition.
“I was out with a broken leg when we won it in 1996, I did my tib and fib in pre-season, I didn’t think I’d play again at the time – and I didn’t even have a ticket to go to the final!
“It’s the only one I’ve not won with Macc so we’ll be going to Alty and looking to perform, win and make good progress, but we’ve got a big game before that so we won’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Meanwhile, former Stoke City forward Mamady Sidibe has been honing his skills training with Macc.
The Malian international helped the Potters gain promotion to the Premier League and also had spells at Gillingham and Swansea.
“There’s possibly a deal to be done but we’ll have to see, because as everyone knows, we’ve got no money, “ said Askey, who was happy with his new strike recruits, Matthew Barnes-Homer, who's returned on a loan deal until the end of the season, and Denny Johnstone.
“I thought that Barnesy was terrific at Barnet. He didn’t get a goal but his hold-up play and his work rate was excellent,we missed him against Torquay. He's had to take a big wage cut to come back to us but he wants to be up here and he's enjoying being here.
“Denny came on and I thought the longer that the game went on the better he got. He started to win headers and get hold of the ball and obviously it's all new to him so we'll see. If you're given time and you're decent then you'll come through. He's a strong lad, quick and unlucky he didn't get in when he tried to take it round the keeper.
"We think he'll do well.”
