Coventry 12 Macclesfield 40 – Match Review by Patrick Giffney

Macclesfield travelled to Coventry in National League One last weekend and secured an impressive 40-12 victory.

The Blues were looking for their first win since the opening day of the season and turned in a confident performance against a team that sat five places above them in the league table.

Coventry, having played in the Championship last season, suffered a heavy defeat to Cambridge last week and were looking to bounce back against Macclesfield. This was not to be the case as the visitors turned in a confident display and from the first whistle looked like a team that would dominate the match.

The early stages of the game were dominated by the visitors, Tom Eaton converted a penalty after just three minutes and that was quickly followed by an Evan Stewart try. Eaton added the extras and Macclesfield raced into a 10-0 lead.

Coventry were struggling to establish themselves in the game and could not cope with the high tempo of Macclesfield’s play. This was even more evident after fifteen minutes when Josh Fowles ran in the Blues second try of the game after a superb run from Matt Simpson.

Coventry replied immediately, winger Rueben Haile took advantage of a missed tackle from the Macc defence and scored a try to bring them back in the game, 17-5. The Blues extended their lead further when Eaton converted a penalty and Evan Stewart scored his second try of the game.

Though the home sides response was again immediate, from the kick-off Sam Herrington was given the ball on the wing and scored Coventry’s second try of the match, which was then converted by Dan Richards to make the half time score 27-12.

Macclesfield could sense victory and early in the second half put the game beyond Coventry, Eaton again converted a penalty and scrum half Charlie Mulchrone scored a try in the corner after heavy pressure from the Blues forward line. It was now 35-12 and the home side were fading.

The victory was confirmed ten minutes from time when Matt O’Reegan scored Macc’s fifth try of the game and secured maximum points for the away side. It was a deserved victory and an impressive performance from a team who are slowly but surely building momentum week by week and will be looking to continue this form against Blaydon at Priory Park next week.