Fox questions commitment after Grecians slump at Macclesfield

by DAVID LAFFERTY

EXETER boss Peter Fox openly questioned his side's commitment after they slid out of the play-off zone at Macclesfield. Richie Barker's first-half strike was enough to win the game for the Silkmen. And only the goalkeeping heroics of Stuart Naylor and some poor finishing kept the scoreline respectable. City turned on the style away from home with a 4-1 win at Shrewsbury. But since then they have taken only two points from three games. Draws with Carlisle and Swansea and Saturday's defeat at Moss Rose have seen them slump to eighth in the table they topped in early September. And Fox singled out several fairweather performers for letting the Grecians down. "We've got a few sunshine players in the side," said Fox. "We've come up north where the weather is poor and you've got to roll up your sleeves and fight, which we didn't do. "I was so disappointed with the first 45 minutes. We threatened them. never "We changed things around after the break, but why should we have to make those changes? "We should be able to keep with the original 11. Our problem is consistency. "But some of the players worked hard and I felt the longer the score stayed at 1-0, the more the pressure built up on them and we could have nicked something from the game. "In the end they deserved to win the game and they could have had more. We've got to start battling now." Macclesfield boss Sammy Mcllroy, who is being strongly linked with the vacant Northern Ireland manager's job, admitted he was re- lieved when the final whistle sounded. "It was a hard-fought game for us to win," he said. "You're never confident at 1-0 but, to be honest, they never looked like scoring. "I wanted another goal but I always felt we'd only let it slip if we did something stupid. "We should have sealed it in the last minute but their keeper played very well. We deserved three points and to win three in a row is fantastic." By the 17th minute Macclesfield realised Exeter were there for the taking when Jason Rees was forced to clear off the line from John Askey's header. Four minutes later Barker was left all alone in the area eight yards from goal, ony to put his header over bar. And Ben Sedgemore and Keiron Durkan both spurned chances before Barker made the pressure count in the 25th minute. Durkan raced down the right and skipped past two defenders before crossing for Barker to slot home from close range. Exeter's first real chance came on the half-hour when on-loan marksman Shayne Bradley burst into the area. But the Southampton teenager delayed his shot and Rae Ingram recovered to tackle. Bradley had another chance in the 42nd minute when he turned past Ingram, only to see his shot blocked by Lee Martin. Despite Fox's half-time exhortations, the Grecians were still pinned back for long spells. Naylor was forced to save Askey's header and blocked a skimming 20- yarder from Chris Priest before parrying another long-range effort from Sedgemore. Exeter clung on to stay in the game and almost stole a point. Martin couldn't hold Bradley's drive from the edge of the area but no-one was on hand to follow up. And Macclesfield almost added a second goal in stoppage time, with Naylor brilliantly blocking Durkan's close-range strike.