Morecambe 4 Macclesfield 1 McStay. Carlton, Drummie, Howe

[Keith]

0-1 One down after two minutes "poor defending by the midfield"... not heard that before

1-1 Henry McStay from a Stanners free kick

2-1 Stanners corner, flicked on for Danny to get his second in two games

3-1 Wainright cross for Drummie to stick it away. Sounds like we're well on top right now! Excellent stuff! Decent crowd too, hope they come back.

4-1 Howe makes it four! Excellent stuff! Sounds like this is fully deserved.

[Keith]

full time. Excellent stuff. Play offs anyone?

[Shrimpsscene]

comprehensive win
all round great performance from everyone
only barry had little to do
top half form thats for sure
my motm craig stanley
sponsors motm rene howe good pick
stew got his 49th goal for morecambe

[Welshrimp]

Very good performance. Macc's goal came very early on with a couple of very neat passes tearing our back 4 in half - one of those really nice moves that sometimes come off. Other than that, they weren't in the game and too much of their kicking was of the type that hits flesh rather than leather.

Outstanding performances by a lot of our lads today - including Henry McStay, Rene, Wainy and Fraser in particular. Good to see Twissy get a run late on.

Roll on Bradford!

[USA Shrimp]

Excellent stuff - I am out of Internet range here in the New Mexico desert and had to rely on text updates from my sisters in the North Stand. Just in a hotspot for a couple of minutes - I missed being in the chatroom

Now, what was that about playoffs?

[Welshrimp]

Too many teams in between I think, Rich. But a very encouraging performance nonetheless.

[Keith]

Too many teams in between I think, Rich.

Not sure about that. I said it slightly tongue in cheek but we're only nine points away with over half the season left. We're playing well now and have players coming back from injury. If we can keep Danny until the end of the season, who knows?

[George Dawes]

great display SM is starting to find his best team now

i just hope we can give twice a run on the problem postion on the left side of midfield, but i cant work out which is his preferred foot or is he just ambidextrous with his feet

[thegentlegiant]

Fantastic game...we out played them...we looked very good on the ball..shame we conceded early on...Great move by macc to get the goal thou.

my motm would also be rene howe, great goal by mcstay.

Plus a great attendence roll on Sunday!!!

Overall 8.5/10

[steve mfc]

After a shaky start we went on to dominate the game, a well deserved win with good performances all over the park, particularly Rene Howe who never gave up constantly winning the ball back, and who was a thorn in the Macclesfield defence all afternoon, well done to the team.

[Christies Child]

Excellent performance. Sets us up nicely for the Battle of the Roses.

Rene rightly MoM closely followed by McStay. Rene's goal was sheer quality.

At long last a good performance in front of a decent crowd.

Would be interested in the foul count of Macc. Easy to see why they have got more yellow cards than anybody else to date.

UPDATE: 16 fouls by Macc 12 by MFC.....seemed to be a hell of lot more than 16!

Week refereee who should have sent at least a couple of their thugs off!

[campdave]

Great performance. I counted 9 of the 11 starters as Sammy McIllroy signings (Roche, Adams, McStay, Yates, Wainwright, Drummond, Carlton, Howe, McLachlan), funny how the criticism of his signings seems to have gone quiet in the last few weeks. The confidence in the team is showing, we're actually properly playing football now rather than resorting to hoofs upfield. Really pleasing today to go for the jugular rather than sitting back once we took the lead.

[Christies Child]

Great performance. I counted 9 of the 11 starters as Sammy McIllroy signings (Roche, Adams, McStay, Yates, Wainwright, Drummond, Carlton, Howe, McLachlan), funny how the criticism of his signings seems to have gone quiet in the last few weeks. The confidence in the team is showing, we're actually properly playing football now rather than resorting to hoofs upfield. Really pleasing today to go for the jugular rather than sitting back once we took the lead.

Totally agree.

Varying the approach play is bringing some improved results and performances.

BTW campdave.....Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

[badger]

the man of the match should go to the whole team today it was a great team performance.
well done lads. watch out bradford here we come.

[admiral47]

Great game- best performance of the season-although mac contributed with their style of play. Six weeks ago I was sure we would be fighting for our life at the end of the season - now not so sure. Although some of Sammy's signings look OK we still have Parish, Carr and McStay on 2 year contracts and who still have to prove their worth IMO, and its a good job other clubs did not snap up Stanley and Yates when Sammy fell out with them. Stanley's crossing of the ball from corners and free kicks and his all round play is making a diference

[Keith]

...we still have Parish, Carr and McStay on 2 year contracts and who still have to prove their worth IMO...

I think McStay has been superb in the games I've seen recently and has been close to MotM in a few games. I also still think that Carr will come good although I agree he has got to prove things yet.

[Christies Child]

Have to say that McStay has made that position alongside Captain Jimbo his own.

Most improved player of the season and AGAIN justifies Sammy's continued belief in the guy.

[Burnley Shrimp]

McStay has been excellent recntly and chipping in with goals too. Jimbo obviously rates his presence in the box because every time we had a corner in the second half he was screaming at Stanners to knock it in to Henry! Carr has an awful lot to prove (but may yet do so) and for me Parish is a squad filler who if truth be known is probably not quite up to Div 2 standard. Still he's only young and may still improve.

Yesterday everything seemed to click and we battered them in the second half. A boxing match would have been stopped on that level of domination. Can't work out if it was because we were so good, they were so poor or maybe a combination of both?

Rene and Danny seem to compliment each other very well. Wouldn't it be great if they coukld both become permanent Morecambe players!

Playoffs? On home form we are undoubtedly a match for anyone and I now stand on the North Stand expecting to win games consistently again. Unfortunately away from home we are not the same team and we don't really go for it enough. Who knows that may well now change. The team do seem to be settled and playing some good stuff so lets start this Sunday and hopefully get a result at Bratfud. That would really finish my Crimbo off a treat!!

[Christies Child]

McStay has been excellent recntly and chipping in with goals too. Jimbo obviously rates his presence in the box because every time we had a corner in the second half he was screaming at Stanners to knock it in to Henry! Carr has an awful lot to prove (but may yet do so) and for me Parish is a squad filler who if truth be known is probably not quite up to Div 2 standard. Still he's only young and may still improve.

Yesterday everything seemed to click and we battered them in the second half. A boxing match would have been stopped on that level of domination. Can't work out if it was because we were so good, they were so poor or maybe a combination of both?

Rene and Danny seem to compliment each other very well. Wouldn't it be great if they coukld both become permanent Morecambe players!

Playoffs? On home form we are undoubtedly a match for anyone and I now stand on the North Stand expecting to win games consistently again. Unfortunately away from home we are not the same team and we don't really go for it enough. Who knows that may well now change. The team do seem to be settled and playing some good stuff so lets start this Sunday and hopefully get a result at Bratfud. That would really finish my Crimbo off a treat!!

Totally agree.

But I can understand the old football adage that a point away is a good results 9 times out of 10. Just so frustrsting that we have to go a goal down to show how good we can be ie Luton. Unfortunately we then sit back seeming content on the point rather than 'going for it'.

[marky]

Well that was by far the best performance I've seen in this calendar year. Aside from the opening 10 minutes, I thought we were consistently very good. I will say that Macclesfield were utterly awful and that undoubtedly contributed but for a change we made our dominance count. Carlton is a different player (i.e. vastly improved) and if we can get him permanently then we should because the forward line looks so much stronger with him in the team. I counted at least 5 times yesterday where he picked out 'blind' passes out of nowhere. Personally I would have chosen McStay as man of the match. I've always been a fan of his and he's proving why now. I'm not convinced with Wainwright as a left wing-back so for me that position needs to be filled come the transfer window. Overall it was a good afternoon - we seem to like Boxing Day fixtures!

[heysham_mfc]

great game might even set some of the 'part time' fans to come to the lincoln game

E-I-E-I-E-I-O
up the football leauge we go

[cibasteve]

full time. Excellent stuff. Play offs anyone?

[Burnley Shrimp]

He who laughs last Ciba, he who laughs last. Wait till after our two games this season before you go sticking your neck on the old chopping block like that! Don't forget we spent most of last season above you and you're not that far in front of us now, so don't get too carried away just yet.

[Castaway]

Did anyone else think Mcstays goal was an own goal?
Looked like the Macc lad booted it into his own net.

Apologies in advance Henry!

[Father Ted]

I think that we are getting a little carried away here. 4-1 is obviously a great result, but Macclesfield have been whipping boys on a number of occasions this year.

Tomorrow's encounter might well be a different story.