The purists wouldn't have been that impressed but Halifax took the points at home to a Macclesfield side that failed to deal with balls into the box.

Set pieces proved a problem for Macc all afternoon, and the play-off chasers capitalised with two goals in the space of four first-half minutes.

When Chris Smith knocked a corner back across goal Marc Roberts was on hand to fire in the first, and minutes later Smith benefited from a free kick that fell kindly for him, volleying in the second with a quarter of the game gone.

The division's leading scorer Lee Gregory had signalled their intent long before then, drilling a seventh-minute shot against the foot of Rhys Taylor's post.

But Macc had the better chances from open play and should have made more of them, although Scott Boden did give the Silkmen hope just before half-time. Scott Kay kept his head when defenders converged on him at the byline, and he laid the ball off for Boden to thump in his fourth goal in four games.

But although Danny Rowe whistled a shot past the post and Danny Andrew rescued the visitors with a last-gasp clearance to deny Marlon Jackson there were no further goals and Halifax repelled Macc's late rally to take another step towards play-off qualification.

For Macc the end of a troubled season can't come soon enough.