STAY INtertoto Cup: Macclesfield 1 v 2 Reading

Reice Charles-Cook picked up his first loss as virtual manager of Macclesfield Town at the hands of underdogs Tom McIntyre and Reading.

Macc started superbly and took the game to Reading in the early stages, and it wasn’t too long before the deadlock was broken. Connor Kirby pulled out a typical defence splitting pass which Ben Stephens ran onto before slotting to the ‘keepers left.

However, just three in-game minutes later, Reice could do nothing about stopping Lucas Joao smash the ball past his virtual-self from close range to level the tie.

Neither player could be blamed for yesterday’s postponement, but it may have knocked Reice’s winning momentum. McIntyre thought he took the lead through Baldock, but the linesman raised his flag for offside to the Reading player’s embarrassment.

Reice tinkered at the break but his changes didn’t prove fruitful as in his last game against Middlesbrough.

With 20 minutes to play, Reading broke through on goal with McIntyre choosing to knock the ball across Charles-Cook’s box to the onrushing Joao for him to slot home.

McIntyre’s Reading were ahead for the first time through what can only be described as a ‘sweaty goal’, words that the Reading player screamed when tapping into an empty net.

Its all to play for heading into the final game against Wolves and a draw will be enough if results go Reice’s way, however the win will be a priority.