Owls pegged back
Sheffield Wednesday and Macclesfield will meet again in the FA Cup at Hillsborough with the third round clash finishing 1-1 at Moss Rose.
Reda Johnson’s first half header gave Wednesday the lead but the Silkmen battled back to level after the break through Steve Willilams, who poked the ball home into the bottom corner.
A draw and replay in S6 was probably a fair result on the balance of play with both sides contributing to a lively and entertaining cup clash.
Going into the tie, 63 places separated the Owls from their Skrill Premier opponents Macclesfield.
But the FA Cup third round clash was going to be anything but academic for Wednesday with the Silkmen in good form on the back of four straight wins and unbeaten in 12 on home soil.
And while the opening exchanges were largely controlled by Wednesday, the visitors had an early scare when Joe Connor’s header was cleared off the line by Liam Palmer from a corner.
But just as Macclesfield began to edge their way into the game, the Owls gained the advantage midway through the first half.
Stephen McPhail delivered the corner from the left and Reda Johnson pounced in the middle with a bullet header into the net.
Wednesday’s tails were up and Jose Semedo almost made it two on the half hour mark but was denied by an outstanding piece of goalkeeping from Rhys Taylor.
The momentum remained with Stuart Gray’s side as the second half began, with Wednesday bossing possession - albeit without creating anything clear cut, with a long range strike from McPhail the only effort of note.
But with the score at 1-0, the Silkmen were still well in the game and came close twice within a minute.
Firstly, Holroyd saw his goal-bound header cleared away from danger before Scott Boden was sent through on goal but was denied at the last by a well-timed Miguel Llera challenge.
But back came the Owls at the other end and Jeremy Helan had a good chance to put clear daylight between the two teams.
The ex-Manchester City man controlled in the area and thumped powerfully on target but Taylor made another smart save, beating away the strike.
A half clearance by Llera then gave the home side a sight at goal, as the ball fell kindly for Danny Whitaker, who hit a firm half volley on target but Damain Martinez did superbly well to tip over the bar.
The Arsenal loanee, though, was powerless to stop Williams from grabbing the equaliser on 74 minutes, when the defender nipped in from a cross on the right and stabbed home into the bottom corner.
The goal gave the home side and support a huge boost heading into the final stages of the game but that was the end of action in front of a capacity crowd at Moss Rose, with both sides set to get another crack at reaching the fourth round at Hillsborough.