Sunday 8 January 2012

Macclesfield Town 2 Bolton Wanderers 2


A thrilling FA Cup 3rd round tie at Moss Rose, where Macclesfield performed brilliantly to at times really rattle their Premier League opponents.

In a "potential giant killing" type match like this, the lower league team will hope to either get an early goal to rattle their opponents, or to at least disrupt their opponents play and stop them from getting a goal for as long as possible. So when Bolton scored in just the 6th minute, this game was looking unlikely to produce any joy for Macclesfield.

In truth Macclesfield looked very nervous early on, and the early goal had looked likely. Darren Pratley's shot was parried by Macclesfield keeper Veiga, but only straight into the path of Klasnic for an easy close range tap in. It was looking likely that Bolton would now be able to settle into the game and score several more.


But instead Macclesfield responded superbly, and began pushing forward. They had two massive opportunities - first Colin Daniel was put through one on one with Bolton's keeper Adam Bogdan, but his shot was saved when he might have had time to round the keeper. Soon after, Mendy attempted an excellent curling effort heading for the right corner, which Bogdan brilliantly pushed wide.

And then, from a Bolton corner, Macclesfield broke well, as the fast George Donnelly was fed the ball wide left to charge forward. He crossed the ball to Colin Daniel, who this time took his massive opportunity with a composed finish to make it 1-1 in the 16th minute.

A Joe Riley cross brushed the bar on it's way out for Bolton shortly after, but on the whole it was Macclesfield who were looking more threatening, with a series of dangerous long balls and crosses really testing Bolton.

They'd given Bolton no opportunity to settle into the game after the early goal, and by the end of the half Bolton were visibly rattled, with a series of wayward passes and desperate moments in defence, including a clumsy Wheater foul outside the box that had the Macclesfield fans convinced he was the last man in defence. The referee must have decided the other defenders would have caught up with the attacking player in time as he only gave a yellow card. Bolton were probably relieved when the half time whistle was blown.


But the half time break did little to alter things, as Macclesfield continued on the front foot in the second half. Colin Daniel continued to be the man on the end of most of their chances, as he headed wide and then had a low shot saved by Bogdan.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle made two substitutions in the 63rd minute to try to put some life back in his team's attack, but in the 68th minute he must have wondered if his team were about to be on the receiving end of a big shock when Macclesfield scored again - and what a goal it was. Mendy got the ball facing away from goal 25 yards out, flicked it up, span and smashed the ball into the top corner. It was an amazing moment, and the home fans went absolutely mental.

This goal seemed to wake Bolton up, and they began to take over the game and push forward. And they soon got their equaliser, a 77th minute Petrov free kick set up a well placed header from David Wheater, low into the corner of the net, and it was the Bolton fan's turn to go bonkers.


After this Macclesfield struggled to be able to put together the passing moves that had taken Bolton by surprise for much of the game, and late on Bolton laid siege on the Macclesfield goal - first a curling 20-25 yard Petrov free kick hit the bar, and right near the end Klasnic had a massive chance from close range, but his low shot was brilliantly saved by Veiga.

It proved to be the last major action in the game, the draw in the end about the right result after an entertaining match. The tie now goes to a replay at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, and the winner of the replay will be at home to Swansea in the FA cup 4th round.

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