Macclesfield simply need their uncut diamonds to shine and their lingering relegation worries will be at an end.

So says Macclesfield Town manager Gary Simpson, who saw his team’s five-game unbeaten run come to an end on Saturday.

To compound the loss, the Silkmen will face two tricky derbies, against Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra, without strike pair Ricky Sappleton and Emile Sinclair, who were both red-carded following the 21-man dust-up in injury time on Saturday.

"To be fair, Ricky caught the lad and it looks bad but he didn’t see him," defended the manager. "He realised and he held his hands up straight away and two or three of their players came in to have a go at him.

"There was a lot of charging in and pushing and shoving but when you pick the bones out of it, it seemed to be handbags at 10 paces, there doesn’t look to have been that many punches thrown."

The three-match bans issued to Sappleton and Sinclair will add to an internal enquiry, since Simpson puts a high price on his players’ conduct.

"As a club we don’t condone this sort of behaviour, " he said. "We were second in the Fair Play League before Saturday, and those were the first red cards of our season so, while it was an isolated incident, we’re aware that we have families and young children coming to watch us and how we conduct ourselves is important to us."

Aside from the chaos, Macc gave the second-placed Chairboys a good run for their money and could have had some reward, but for their inability to get the ball in the net.

"We’ve got to punish other teams with the chances we create," insisted Simpson. "That’s where other, richer clubs pay their money. I keep on saying it but we need to get some quality in the last third of the field.

"Not many would disagree that we’re punching above our weight – we have uncut diamonds, we can’t go out and buy the finished article. I’ve no qualms about that. People can be critical but some League Two clubs have four or five times our money. Every year that we can stay in the division must be classed as an achievement in itself.

"We work with a fraction of what most of our rivals have so I think it’s fantastic what our little club can do, from the hard work of the chairman and vice-chairman right throughout the whole club.

"We’ve got a physical presence, athleticism, good organisation, team spirit and some experience on the field, it’s just when we get into situations in the final third it’s about picking that pass out and executing it with quality."

Macc skipper Paul Morgan is doubtful for the Port Vale clash. The central defender "took two or three heavy knocks" against Wycombe and Simpson is keeping his fingers crossed that his on-field leader will recover from suspected medial ligament damage in time to face the Valiants.

Left-back Carl Tremarco was expected to feature in Tuesday night’s Cheshire Premier Cup match at Crewe after his rehabilitation from hip surgery.