Vinny Mukendi's first senior goal and Emile Sinclair's seventh of the campaign gave Macclesfield their fourth win in six and put a dent in Chesterfield's play-off ambitions.

An attacking line-up saw Craig Lindfield restored to a starting berth in midfield with the Silkmen still suffering from a long injury list, however Carl Tremarco and Colin Daniel returned to the bench after lengthy periods off.

In the ninth minute a long ball forward almost deceived Paul Morgan and Jon Brain had to rush out to reach it before Jack Lester and for the Silkmen Sean Hessey's header was blocked in the six yard box.

The game struggled to kick into life though and apart from Ian Breckin's header from a corner which was blocked by Nat Brown few chances fell at either end until Sinclair's 32^nd minute opener.

A long throw from Matthew Lowe was half cleared out to Lee Bell on the edge and his slightly wayward shot wasn't dealt with by the Spireites defence and fell perfectly for Sinclair at the far post to sidefoot home past former Silkman Tommy Lee.

A quick one-two with Tipton allowed Izak Reid to get to the byline a few minutes later and with time to put the ball in his near post cross was put behind just before Lindfield could strike.

The Silkmen did double their lead soon after though when a cross-field ball from Sean Hessey found Nat Brown who had stayed forward following a long throw. After interchanging passes with Tipton he flashed the ball across the six yard box to find Mukendi lurking beyond the far post to stroke home.

Kevin Austin drew a smart save from Brain with a close range near post effort five minutes before the break and Wade Small's 25 yard drive flew a yard wide of the post as the visitors finally began to threaten.

A clever one-two with Lester gave Small another chance on goal but on his left foot he could only hit a tame shot across goal which Brain save comfortably.

The interval came at a good time for the Silkmen ending a rare spell of dominance for Chesterfield -however the major talking point of the afternoon came on 52 minutes when they were denied what looked to be a perfectly good goal.

Jack Lester beat his man on the left to cross for Jordan Bowery and although he didn't connect brilliantly his effort looked to be almost a yard over the line before Paul Morgan scrambled it away. Despite huge protests from the fans behind the goal and the players the referee waved play on as there was no flag from the linesman and the Silkmen were given a huge let off.

Vinny Mukendi headed wide from Bell's corner for Macc before Brain pulled off an unbelievable save to deny Lester his 11^th of the season when Bowery's strong run into the box gave him space to put the ball across and Lester had so much time to find the net but allowed Brain to get across and block his close range effort.

Danny Boshell sliced horribly wide from 20 yards and ex-Silkman Martin Gritton came off the bench to head Ishmel Demontagnac's cross over as Chesterfield became more and more frustrated in the final third.

After Bell was dispossessed in a dangerous area Demontagnac cut onto his left foot to fire in a shot which was deflected behind and although flagged offside the same man was again denied by more Brain heroics when Boshell's shot fell for him in the box.

The Blackpool loanee looked very comfortable on the ball and especially against tiring legs towards the end he threatened to create a comeback himself. With just a few minutes remaining another good run from him ended with him finding sub Scott Boden but Brown took the sting out of his shot with a brave block.

Five minutes of time added on were given and although much of that was played in the Macc half the Spireites failed to break through again and Lee denied substitute Kyle Wilson from notching a third after he turned Kevin Austin and blasted to the near post from a tight angle.

A fantastic run of six games unbeaten has put the Silkmen firmly in mid table and actually now fewer points from the playoffs than the bottom two.

Andy Brinkhurst