Macclesfield Town v Cardiff City: Match preview

Macclesfield are praying they will be the club to provide the traditional FA Cup third round shock when Championship leaders Cardiff visit the Moss Rose tomorrow.

Silkmen chief executive John Harris reckons an intimidating atmosphere, plus a healthy dose of Cup magic, could down the Bluebirds, who will have former City striker Craig Bellamy in their ranks.

“The dream is still alive, they are probably the biggest club outside the Premier League,” said Harris. “Financially it’s a massive day for the football club, there’s interest from media in the third round and it puts the club in the spotlight – our 15 minutes of fame.

“The FA Cup always throws up a shock somewhere. The Moss Rose is a tight ground, the fans will be screaming and it will be a tough atmosphere for them. I’m a realist, if they are at their best they will be too good for us, but if they’re below par and we have a good day there might well be an upset.”

Meanwhile, hometown hero Chris Holroyd says that, while passions boiled over in the aftermath of Macclesfield’s second round win over Barrow, it was that same determination that saw the Silkmen through to round three.

A punishing afternoon on the field spilled over and led to some ugly scenes in the tunnel where rival factions clashed and police officers were called to the
dressing rooms.

But the Silkmen’s local lad was focusing on their reward against the Welsh side after their fine 4-1 win. Holroyd, who scored the second and fourth goals said: “We knew it was going to be difficult, those conditions didn’t suit us because we like to get it down and pass it.

“But we had to battle through and that’s the one thing the manager has picked out, that it was the passion that got us through.

“Cardiff is a game the lads will look forward to, it’s a good test and it might suit us playing a team from a higher league. It could make for a very entertaining game.”

Score prediction: Macclesfield Town 1-1 Cardiff City

Love the prediction at the end 1-1 .
I think there over-estimating us , with the team thats travelled to Moss Rose i think this is the upset of the round waiting to happen and at 9/2 in most bookies there a bargain .
Small ground with 6500 fans very close to the pitch ,
There a big hard tackling team from what ive seen of them ,
We will be playing mainly kids most of whom have no experiance at first team level at all never mind a tough fa cup 3rd round tie against a team and fans who will be really up for the game .
The pitch supposedly is not in the best condition after heavy rain and a lot of games played on it through december .
They are quietly confident they can win .

Macclesfield to beat Cardiff
Crawley to beat Reading at home
Brighton to beat Newcastle at home
Treble pays roughly 50/1 bargain

After watching us play a similar team at Northampton this season a cup upset is on the cards. If we domanagesto come through though I hope we stick with the same players in the next round just like we did in our league cup run last season.

I can't say I am keen on a cup run I just want to see us promoted to the premier ASAP.

I have no problem with playing a second string but it will still be highly embarrassing if we lose tomorrow.

I'm hoping for a draw.That would mean we could get a chance to see Velikonja,Harris ,Coulson,John "etc" in the replay.

MATCH FACTS

Head to head

• This is only the sixth meeting of the sides, with Cardiff holding a 3-2 lead over Macclesfield.

• Their most recent clash was in the second round of the League Cup in September 2005, when Cardiff won 2-1 at Ninian Park.

• All the other matches were fourth level league games; they have never met in the FA Cup.

Macclesfield Town

• Macclesfield are appearing in the third round for the 10th time, and the second season in succession. They have never progressed beyond this stage.

• The match against Cardiff is one of three third round clashes between a Blue Square Bet Premier club, and one from the Championship.

• The Silkmen lie 81 places lower than the Bluebirds in the pecking order.

Cardiff City

• Promotion-chasing Cardiff go into this tie on the back of a four-match winning sequence in the Championship, which has helped establish a five-point cushion at the top of the table.

• The only club from outside England to have won the FA Cup (in 1927), and the 2008 runners-up to Portsmouth, have made a third round exit to top-flight opposition in each of the last two seasons.

• They have knocked out non-league opponents on the last nine occasions they've been drawn against them, and were last humiliated by such a club in the first round in November 1994 when Enfield of the Isthmian League registered a 1-0 home win.