In-form hitman Matthew Barnes-Homer classed his history-making spot-kick as the most important goal of his career.

The striker wrote his name into Moss Rose history books with two goals to bring down Cardiff in the third round of the FA Cup and says that the penalty that took him to 20 goals in a Macclesfield shirt was special.

"They’re the best goals of my life because of the occasion, well the penalty is because that was my 20th halfway through the season — scoring 20 goals by January is a great achievement for me — and I’m probably in the form of my life, certainly the best form I’ve been in for a long while," said the 26-year-old.

Barnes-Homer was quick to applaud Steve King, who brought him to Macc during a massive upheaval in the summer, and the effort on show throughout the team, in seeing off a Cardiff side far from full strength but still bristling with talent and potential.

"We’re playing good football and that’s down to the gaffer, he’s got the players playing unbelievably.

"He’s brought in some fantastic players and he has us nice and relaxed and tells us to go and express ourselves and control the game, there’s no pressure put on us.

"We’ve had some shaky performances but the boys never give up the fight, no matter what, and we fought for each other and you could see that.

"We never give up, when we were down to 10 men and 2-0 down the other day we still believed we could get a result and we got one, so we knew we only needed one goal and we could go on to win the game.

"The boys stepped up another gear and we carried on fighting. I had a couple of chances but I kept on believing and knew that if the right ball came I could make sure of it.

"I get paid to score goals and goals win you games but all the lads, the ones at the back and the keeper, they keep the goals out – they work hard to do that job and collectively we’re strong as a team.

"Even though I scored, it’s for Jack (Mackreth) who crossed the ball, it’s for Waide (Fairhurst) who came on and changed the game with a bit of magic, it’s for Pablo (Mills) who won the penalty, for Lance (Cronin) who made that save – it’s for all the players who put the graft in and put their bodies on the line.

"Everybody’s equal here, we stay as a team and you could see that.

"Steve has had massive stick but we’re like a family and all the boys are behind him.

"The fans need to stick with us and stick with him because he’s a good manager and we’ve been playing the best football in the division."