Macclesfield 1-3 Swansea

Gareth Phillips celebrates his early opener

An impressive opening-day performance set Swansea off to a flying start in their Division Three campaign as they turned in a solid display to beat Macclesfield at Moss Rose.

In an explosive opening period, pacy winger Stuart Roberts lit the blue touch paper for the Swans after just four minutes as he crossed for Gareth Phillips to head home.

Jonathan Coates battles with Chris Byrne

Buoyed by that early strike, the visitors took control and doubled their advantage with 20 minutes gone when Roberts crossed again for Frenchman Mamady Sidibe to score.

Macclesfield were given a lifeline 12 minutes before the break when Swansea skipper Nick Cusack was adjudged to have pushed Darren Tinson in the area and Lee Glover made no mistake from the penalty spot.

After the break, the hosts came out more brightly and were unlucky not to find an equaliser when Chris Byrne hit the post and Glover saw his goalbound shot blocked on the line by a team-mate.

But the points were sealed by Swansea in the 88th minute when Jonathan Coates was brought down in the area by Dave Ridler, allowing Steve Watkin to thump home the spot-kick.

---

Macclesfield: Martin, Hitchen, Adams, Ridler, Tinson, Byrne, McAvoy, Eyre, Keen, Lightbourne, Glover. Subs: Wilson, Tracey, Askey, Munroe, O'Neill.

Swansea: Freestone, O'Leary, Howard, Todd, Cusack, Coates, Phillips, Jenkins, Roberts, Watkin, Sidive. Subs: Williams, Jones, De-Vulgt, Mazzine, Romo.

Referee: M Ryan (Preston)