By Nathan Jackson
November 30 2005

"Macc" were a annual fixture in the relegation battle until they made the playoffs last season, but is it now back to normal? Macclesfield currently sit 22nd in the table and if the Imps record a win over them on Saturday, the Silkmen will almost certainly be labelled as 1 season wonders.

Last season, there wasn't even an argument about who the division's surprise package were. Macclesfield were predicted for their annual relegation battle but they surprised everyone by almost gaining automatic promotion, however, they had to settle for the playoffs and were eliminated by the Imps in the semi-finals. However, not a single person in Macclesfield views last season as a failure. In a similar way to Lincoln in the 2002/3 season, the playoffs were more than the vast majority of people could believe and although we were battered in the final, we were still proud of our team, a feeling that 24 year old Macclesfield fan, Dave Wrigley explains,

"Relegation, financial crisis' and general a lot of rubbish on the pitch, the previous few years hadn't been brilliant for Macclesfield. We had gradually been getting worse since our relegation back to League 2, finishing 13th, 14th, 13th, 16th and 20th saw us gradually creep closer to the conference. Towards the end of the 2003/4 season, Dave Moss was deservedly sacked and Horton came in, we won fair few of our remaining games and were saved from the drop.

Many Macc fans were hoping for an improved season on the previous 2, hopefully a safe midtable position and maybe even sneaking into the top half of the table, would have been viewed as an achievement but to make the playoffs was brilliant to say the least and even though we were elimated by a narrow margin, it will be a season that lives long in the memory of many Macc fans."

However, unlike City after the first playoff campaign, Macclesfield are suffering a serious playoff hangover and have spent the whole season so far, flirting with the drop zone and like City, have won just 4 of their 19 league games so far this season. Comparisons between the Imps and the Silkmen are common this season, both have only won 4 times, neither have won 2 league games on the trot and both have conceeded more goals in the last 30 minutes than the first 60.

There have also been strong rumours that the owners of the club have apparantly run into some financial troubles as they had apparantly flowed everything into an "all or nothing" season last year and the fact the Macclesfield apparantly accepted a bid from the Imps for star striker, Jon Parkin should be an indication of how Macclesfield could possibly be heading.

Results on the field are considerably worse that those of last season, on the right, you can see a diagram demonstrating results so far this season. From this diagram you can see that they have conceeded 4 goals on two occasions, losing 4-0 and 4-1, both to teams from near Lincoln, Peterborough and Northampton. Also, in another comparison to the Imps, there have only been 4 games where they haven't conceeded a goal.

Lincoln are infact the only side that have faced Macclesfield in every single season since they entered the league back in the 1997/8 season. The Macc have won just 4 of these matches compared to the Imps 8, whereas 6 have been draws. The last win for Macc came almost a year ago when a Jon Parkin double just before half time gave the Silkmen a 2-1 win. However, that was their first win over the Imps since February 2001 and they have also failed to score in 7 of the 10 meetings since that game which saw the end of Phil Stant's time in charge of the Imps. Infact, they have only ever scored 6 goals at Sincil Bank in 9 attempts.

The key to Saturday's game will be who collaspes in the final 15 minutes of the game, City have conceeded 6 in this time frame, whereas the Silkmen have conceeded 9. One of the most shocking stats about the Imps this season is that from a winning position, the Imps have lost a staggering 17 points, the worst in the division by 5 clear points. Macclesfield have a surprisingly low figure considering their position in the table, losing 9 points from winning positions.

The game on Saturday will arguably be the biggest game of the season so far for both clubs as the loser will almost certainly be stuck in a relegation battle for the rest of the season, yet the winner could very well find themselves quickly moving up the table with a busy month ahead, one thing's for sure, if Macclesfield lose, they could be back in the relegation zone if Stockport win on Tuesday night, if Macc win on Saturday and Stockport win on Tuesday, not only will Macc go above the Imps, but they could possibly push the Imps down to just 1 point above the relegation zone. Potentially, the Imps could be just 5 points off of the playoff places on Saturday afternoon.