Macclesfield Town ensured another year of League football at the Moss Rose after gaining the point needed for safety.

John Miles' early strike was cancelled out by Andy Parkinson and after a nervy second half news filtered through that Boston had lost and Macc were safe.

The Silkmen began brightly and Danny Swailes should have scored after four minutes when he headed just wide from six yards following John Murphy's flick-on.

The goal came two minutes later when Martin Bullock's cross wasn't dealt with and Miles picked the ball up to slot into the bottom corner from eight yards.

John Miles - Well taken goal to put Macc ahead early on

Parkinson headed inches wide at the far post from a Jay Smith cross and substitute Matt Somner had Tommy Lee scrambling with an ambitious 30 yards effort which whistled over the crossbar.

Matty McNeil could have made it two on 17 minutes when he was picked out by a quickly taken Jamie Tolley free kick but his header was easily saved by Kevin Pilkington.

The Magpies hit the post after 26 minutes when Austin McCann's near post corner led to close range scramble and fortunately Lee was able to claim the loose ball.

Pilkington made a great save to deny Tolley after the ex-Shrewsbury man had collected Bullock's cross and fired in a powerful half-volley.

Lawrie Dudfield was away down the right on 35 minutes, and with bags of time to put a cross in, his cut back to Parkinson was poor and Swailes was able to clear the danger.

The equaliser came after 38 minutes, just around the same time as news came through that Boston had taken the lead at Wrexham.  A straight long ball beat the Macc defence and sent Parkinson racing through.  Lee got a touch on his first effort but the striker was able to get to the loose ball first and make sure from close range.

The visitors were lifted by the goal and the half time whistle couldn't come soon enough for Macc.  Parkinson's pace took him past his man on the right and his dangerous cross had to be put behind for a corner by Carl Regan at the far post.

Lee was then forced to tip a cross over from under his own bar and Macc survived a string of Notts corners before the whistle blew for the break.

Hearts were in mouths, nerves were torn to shreds and fingernails were being bitten all around the ground for 15 minutes.  As it stood Macc were safe - just.

Early in the second period Lee had to make an outstanding save to deny Somner's 20 yard blast and Macc again survived more corners.

Suddenly whispers and cheers flooded around the ground - Wrexham had equalised at the Racecourse, things were looking up.

Murphy should have done better when picked out by McIntyre's cross from the left and Miles curled over from 20 yards after beating his man on the right.

Chances were still coming at both ends and Notts almost went ahead when Dudfield flashed the ball across the box just out of Parkinson's reach.

In the 64th minute McNeil did well to hold the ball up and slide a pass through to Alan Navarro but rather than shooting he tried to square the ball across to Bullock and the pass was deflected behind.

With play stopped for a few minutes because of an injury in the centre circle, disturbing scenes occurred when a few visiting supporters got onto the pitch at one corner of the ground.

Matthew Tipton replaced Bullock on 71 minutes and Navarro went into the referee's book for a foul on Smith on the halfway line.

It could still have swung either way but the nerves turned to cheers with ten minutes to go as Paul Ince began warming up on the touchline.

Concentration went back to the pitch though as James Walker shot wide after it looked as if he handled it to control the ball.  The referee also awarded a corner to Dave Morley's disgust and the skipper went too far with his appeals and was shown the yellow card.

With five minutes left on the clock the bumper crowd of over four-thousand had two things to cheers about.  Ince stripped off and replaced Navarro and word got around that Wrexham had gone ahead at the Racecourse - surely safety was in sight?

The Gaffer showed a few neat touches on the ball but was then booked for dissent after a free kick went against him.  The mood wasn't to be dampened though when Wrexham scored a third and there was to be no chance of a comeback from Boston.

Four minutes were added on and the celebrations had already begun when Tipton fired just over after latching on to Tolley's miss-hit shot.

The final whistle blew to huge cheers as the Silkmen were safe.Ten years and counting - what were we all so worried about?!

Andy Brinkhurst