Macclesfield Town 1-1 Leyton Orient

Champions-elect Macclesfield edged a step closer to promotion back to the Football League after a six-year absence despite being held to a draw by Leyton Orient.

The result saw the Silkmen move 13 points clear of second-placed Tranmere, who have five matches remaining, and they only need to collect three points from their final two games to go up as champions.

Macclesfield took a deserved lead after 17 minutes through Danny Whitaker after a knock down from Nathan Blissett found Mitch Hancox, who laid off for the midfielder to sidefoot home his 100th career goal.

Blissett almost doubled the home side's lead but his header was kept out by a stunning save by Dean Brill and the visitors capitalised on the missed opportunity to snatch a leveller three minutes before the break.

Macauley Bonne saw a header cleared off the line for a corner and when Macclesfield failed to clear their lines from the resulting set-piece, Josh Koroma was on hand to slam home the loose ball.

Chances were few and far between in the second period with Bonne and Jobi McAnuff both off-target for Orient and Whitehead firing wide from range for the hosts.

However, the visitors almost won it in the final minute when David Mooney rounded goalkeeper Shwan Jalal, only for a superb block on the line by David Fitzpatrick to secure a valuable point for Macclesfield.

Report supplied by the Press Association.

• Line-ups
• Live Text

Line-ups

Macclesfield

• 1JalalBooked at 88mins
• 2Hodgkiss
• 5Pilkington
• 23Whitaker
• 3Fitzpatrick
• 4Lowe
• 18WhiteheadSubstituted forKennedyat 89'minutes
• 17EvansSubstituted forBurgessat 25'minutes
• 16Hancox
• 8Marsh
• 13Blissett

Substitutes

• 9Wilson
• 12Ramsbottom
• 15Kennedy
• 19De Girolamo
• 20Burgess

Leyton Orient

• 20Brill
• 36Ling
• 21Ekpiteta
• 31Adams
• 3Widdowson
• 5Elokobi
• 7McAnuff
• 23Clay
• 26Brophy
• 19KoromaSubstituted forMooneyat 61'minutes
• 9Bonne

Substitutes

• 1Grainger
• 4Lawless
• 10Mooney
• 14Judd
• 25Happe

Referee:

Peter Wright

Attendance:

3,110

Live Text

1. Post update

   Match ends, Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 1.

2. 90'

   Full Time

   Second Half ends, Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 1.

3. 89'

   Substitution

   Substitution, Macclesfield Town. Kieran Kennedy replaces Danny Whitehead.

4. 88'

   Booking

   Shwan Jalal (Macclesfield Town) is shown the yellow card.

5. 61'

   Substitution

   Substitution, Leyton Orient. David Mooney replaces Josh Koroma.

6. Second Half

   Second Half begins Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 1.

7. 45'

   Half Time

   First Half ends, Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 1.

8. 42'

   Goal!

   Goal! Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 1. Josh Koroma (Leyton Orient).

9. 25'

   Substitution

   Substitution, Macclesfield Town. Scott Burgess replaces Callum Evans.

10. 17'

    Goal!

    Goal! Macclesfield Town 1, Leyton Orient 0. Danny Whitaker (Macclesfield Town).

11. Kick Off

    First Half begins.

12. Posted at 11:50 14 Apr 201811:50 14 Apr 2018

    Post update

    Lineups are announced and players are warming up.