Swindon Town

Mark Cooper’s only changes to the starting line-up were the inclusion of available-again Yaser Kasim and Tyrell Belford, who replaced Nathan Thompson and Wes Foderingham respectively. 

Despite Town controlling the opening quarter of the first half, the home side would go on to grow in stature and fired a warning shot across Swindon’s bows in the 14th minute. After Macclesfield picked the ball off in midfield, Belford had to strain every sinew to finger-tip a shot around the post. Peter Winn and Danny Andrew then both went close in almost identical fashion, drilling left-footed shots across the face of goal and wide. 

Just past the mid-way point of the first half, the Silkmen went in front. Scott Boden wriggled his way into the box before squaring for the unmarked Connor Jennings who sidefooted the ball confidently beyond Belford. 

Jennings then remained at the centre of everything good for Macclesfield for the remainder of the forty-five. Firstly, he sold the Town defence a dummy on the edge of the box before unleashing a shot which Belford did well to hold on to. Next, he tested Belford with a header that that goalkeeper had to acrobatically tip over. 

At the other end, Swindon huffed and puffed to try and muster an effort on goal but Alex Pritchard and Massimo Luongo failed to hit the target. 

After the break, the Silkmen picked up where they left off, with Belford having to make a neat save to deny Jennings. Around the hour mark, Town created two chances of note. Firstly, Ryan Mason’s free-kick was heading for the top corner before Branagan reacted well to turn the ball behind.

Next, from Ranger’s flick-on, Nathan Byrne raced on to the ball and fizzed it across goal. Alex Pritchard threw himself into a full-length dive but could not make contact.

As the game entered the final 20 minutes, the home side scored twice more to put the game beyond Swindon.

Scott Boden was played through on goal and steadied himself before drilling across Belford and into the corner. Jennings then made it 3-0 minutes later. Barrelling through a tackle on the edge of the box he lifted the ball delicately over the advancing Belford.

With the clock ticking ever-closer to 90 minutes, Peter Winn added a fourth, nipping in between Hall and Belford and lifting the ball into the net.