Macc Town 1 Torquay United 0
Danny Whitaker showed his class to send Macclesfield to dizzying heights in the league table.
The veteran midfielder struck the only goal of an edgy affair against Torquay, but the Silkmen were forced to withstand massive pressure to see out victory. Their prize was third place ahead of a big road trip to Barnet on Saturday.
Macc were the stronger in the early stages, and could have led within two minutes but after smart work by Adriano Moke on the left, his pullback was blazed over by Macc captain Paul Turnbull.
Scott Barrow fared no better when Turnbull fed him a chance, sending his drive out of the ground.
Although they'd made the early running, the hosts nearly fell behind midway through the half, but Rhys Taylor and Liam Hogan repelled the efforts of Louis Briscoe and Tony Ajala.
Chris Holroyd did put the ball in Martin Rice's goal but even as he was glancing in a fine ball from Turnbull, the offside flag was aloft.
That aside, the latter stages of the half belonged to Torquay, with Ajala finding Alex Grant a barrier too far and Taylor pulling off a smart near-post save from Ryan Bowman.
But the pressure was washed away 10 minutes into the second half by a delightful goal from Whitaker. Holroyd's pop at goal looped up off a defender and, 15 yards from goal, Wilmslow's finest showed great composure to slot his first-time finish beyond Rice.
That was far from game over though, as Torquay pushed for some reward. Macc, as ever, were grateful to their goalkeeper, who flew full-length to get a hand to Young's goalbound free-kick.
A nervous finish had Macc on the back foot throughout but they stood firm for their 10th clean sheet, that earned them three valuable points that were richly deserved for their endeavour.
