Macclesfield v Ilkeston Town updates here from 3pm.
It’s the big one! The long awaited trip to Robbie Savage’s team has been looked forward to for a while.
Our reporter Matchman says: “For some of our players this could be the biggest crowd they’ve played in front of. I hope they can cope with the inevitable pro-Macclesfield volume. It’s a pleasant experience for us supporters but for our players it’s either intimidating or inspiring. Let’s hope it’s inspiring.”
Macclesfield are saying they have sold 3,000 tickets for today’s match.
Macclesfield are 6th in the NPL with 47 points from 27 games.
Ilkeston are 10th with 40 points from 29 games.
It’s a big ask for Ilkeston to come away with anything, but they’ll be trying.
Teams –
Macclesfield:
1 Berry, 2 Pemberton, 3 Lee, 4 Fensome, 5 Baker, 6 Dixon, 7 Kengni, 8 Mendy, 9 Owolabi, 10 Rooney, 11 Drummond.
Bench : 12 Hurst, 13 O’Keefe, 14 Perry, 15 Murphy, 16 Heathcote.
Ilkeston Town:
1 Yates, 2 Perch, 3 Parker, 4 Eratt-Thompson, 5 Marshall Tom, 6 Cox, 7 Wafula, 8 Dixon, 9 Cursons, 10 Meikle, 11 Walker
Bench ; 12 King, 14 Minkley, 15 Loughlan, 17 Marshall Alex, 18 Starkie.
The weather is OK at the Leasing.com Stadium. It’s filling up nicely with a crowd of 3,5000 predicted. Quite a few from Ilkeston are here although massively outnumbered by the home fans.
There’s a guard of honour made up of youngsters waving flags and waiting for the two teams to come out.
I’ll refer to Macclesfield as the Silkmen in the updates.
Peep! We’re underway.
Silkmen are in blue, Ilkeston red.
GOAL for Silkmen. Ilkeston are losing after only 5 mins. Drummond races through and fires past Yates. 1-0.
GOAL for Ilkeston. Tom Cursons stabs the ball in from a corner, 8 mins. What a response! 1-1.
Silkmen get the ball in Ilkeston’s net again but it’s disallowed for handball.
Then Jamie Walker nearly puts Ilkeston in front. The crowd gasps as he tries to lob the keeper who is off his line but his effort goes just wide. Such thrills early on!
GOAL for Ilkeston! We’re leading! Jonathan Wafula heads in Declan Eratt-Thompson’s cross. 18 mins. 2-1.
Very loud noise here as the home supporters try to get behind their team. It’s end to end.
Ilkeston’s Jamie Walker is booked for a foul on Pemberton, 32 mins. Silkmen fans are chanting OFF!
Now Tom Marshall has been flattened. Looked like someone elbowed him.
The Silkmen fans are very partisan. It’s getting more and more physical on the pitch. Two of the home team in quick succession have been lucky not to get yellows for wild play.
GOAL for Silkmen. John Rooney equalises on 45 mins with a shot into the far corner of Yates’s net. 2-2.
Half-time : Macclesfield 2 Ilkeston 2.
[HTs: Forest 1 West Ham 0; Derby 0 Stevenage 0; Wrexham 1 Notts 0]


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