Underterred by defeat in their opening game at Hereford United, Steve King says his players are still on course for a good season.

Macclesfield had some decent spells in Friday’s night’s 2-1 loss and King – entering his first season in England’s fifth tier – insists that they deserved better reward for their efforts.

With a bit more of a threat up front, King feels there can still be an awful lot for the Macc fans –who have yet to see victory in 2012 although King’s men were due to play Wrexham at home on Tuesday – to shout about. "We were unlucky not to get something from the game on Friday," he said.

"We dominated in the early period and at the end without threatening too much in behind them but we gave them a chance to score the winner with an absolute ‘worldy’.

"I think we were unlucky and the lads kept saying that after the game, the commentators on TV said so as well.

"They had two shots on goal and they went in, even though basically we had all the play.

"I’ll hold my hands up when I feel a team has done us through good play or been better than us but we controlled it for long periods and didn’t get the result, and that’s football isn’t it?

"Hopefully we’ll have more of a cutting edge in the games to come."

King was also incensed by a challenge that threatened to put one of eight new faces on show, Charlie Henry, out of action.

"I think Hereford were lucky not to have a man sent off, he’s gone through Charlie and booted him while he was on the floor, so that was a big decision in the game. How the ref and linesman didn’t see it is beyond me.

"Charlie’s okay though, we do have an injury to Junior Yiadom, he was hit with a nasty tackle in pre-season against Colwyn Bay. We’re hoping he’ll be okay next week."

When asked whether promotion is a realistic aim for this season – Macc’s first outside the top four divisions in 15 years – King remains cautious.

Ahead of facing Wrexham, King remains well aware that, even in the non-league ranks, Macc aren’t dining at the top table, with more money than ever before being spent by clubs in the Blue Square Bet Premier.

"It’s too hard to say whether we’ll finish in the top five," he added. "We’ll just keep taking each game as it comes.

"They’re all tough games, you’ve seen us play a side (Hereford) that will probably finish in mid-table and they compete, they all run as hard as you and tackle as hard as you.

"We’re staying positive, the lads are still buzzing. We don’t lose one game and then think it’s our season over, it’s not like we got outplayed or outclassed.

"We’ve got to capitalise on our chances, we have to make sure we take them when they come along because you’re not going to get chance after chance after chance against these sides."