Ross Draper echoed his manager’s sense of relief after the Silkmen were given the runaround at East Thurrock.
Draper had a hand in the first two goals, stepping over Colin Daniel’s pass for Carl Tremarco to fire in, and then hitting the bar in the build-up to Matty Hamshaw’s header.
Twenty-three-year-old Draper had expected a bumpy ride from the side three divisions below Macc and conceded that their substandard first half should have been punished by the Rocks.
"I know this level and I know that players tire towards the end a game," said the former Hednesford Town midfielder. "That’s why we were disappointed we didn’t pass it more and work them more, it would have made a big difference after the hour, when they would have tired and we could have got a few more. We didn’t do that, which is disappointing but the goals came at quite a handy time."
Playing in the club’s first FA Cup first-round tie, East Thurrock gave a fine account of them early on, and at half-time Draper admitted that the players were lambasted by boss Gary Simpson, prompting them to rubber-stamp their place in round two after the break.
"We had a roasting at half-time but we came out and did the business and that’s what we needed to do," he said.
"It wasn’t the best performance we’ve put in but when you come to places like this, teams make it hard for you, and that’s exactly what happened.
"They worked their socks off and pressed the ball and made it hard for us to play against them, so we knew it was going to be hard but we didn’t play anywhere near how we can.
"We’ve not trained with this ball at all, it was flying around all over the place.
"It was difficult to get used to but it was the same for them, so there’s no excuse there. We knew the pitch would be bad, whether they’ve trained on it we don’t know, that’s up to them and they used it to their advantage.
"But we’re in the next round and that’s what we came for."
