Gary Simpson was left rueing his side’s stage fright as they exited the FA Cup at the hands of a rampant Huddersfield Town.

The League One promotion candidates had six different scorers in a comprehensive thrashing of a tired looking Macclesfield side.

Three goals before the break had settled what had been a one-sided tie, after which it became merely a question of how many they’d put past Silkmen keeper Jose Veiga.

"In the last two games we’ve looked a bit dead," said a disappointed Simpson. "Obviously we’re disappointed but we’ve got a full week this week, and I might need to freshen it up and give one or two a bit of a rest and one or two others a bit of a run because in the last two games we’ve looked a bit shot."

The scoreline hardly flattered Huddersfield, and it was the manner of defeat that rankled with the Macc boss.

"At half-time I had a bit of a go because I always try to put a side out that gives the supporters value for money and works hard," he reflected. "But when we came in you’d have thought we were playing Barcelona today. We knew it would be difficult, we wanted to try to keep it tight and hit them on the break, and if we’d have got one it would have given us something to hold on to.

"But when we had the opportunity to close them down and get after them we just gave them far too much room to get round us.

"It just didn’t work on the day. I just feel sorry for the supporters who’ve come because losing 6-0 is never nice. I’m certainly disappointed that we didn’t have more of a go in the first half."

Simpson had not been carried away with his side’s impressive form of recent weeks and refused to publicly condemn their efforts after two straight defeats. But behind closed doors his squad had been chastised for a dreadful first half.

"To be fair I think what goes on in the dressing room goes on in the dressing room but there are one or two who know I wasn’t very happy with them," he admitted.

"I want players that want to work and want to improve and if you can’t lift yourself to come to Huddersfield on a Saturday afternoon in the second round of the cup and work your socks off, then maybe you shouldn’t be playing football."