Buxton slip to final pre-season friendly defeat to Macclesfield

For an hour Craig Elliott experimented with a formation based on a back five but his team, which included a trio of trialists likely to sign, lacked the authority and fluency seen in previous outings, though, after reverting to a back-four formation, went close to scoring on several occasions.

Just four days from the start of the season, Buxton suffered the setback of losing skipper Josh Granite to injury after 10 minutes, but the exchanges were mostly even until the visitors scored twice within 60 seconds late in the half.

The Silkmen showed a cutting edge when Kane Drummond scored a well-taken goal, to be followed, almost immediately, by a flowing Alex Curran goal.

For the Bucks an early Jak McCourt 30-yard range-finder, a blocked Connor Kirby blast and a couple of Sam Smart crosses were the only signs of first-half promise.

In the second half, despite multiple changes by both sides, there was plenty of goalmouth action at both ends but, just before the hour, James Berry at close range made it 3-0 and soon afterwards a flowing Macclesfield move saw home 'keeper Max Dearnley turn a firm drive over the bar.

However, the Bucks, reverting to a formation similar to that of earlier outings, showed more attacking promise with Jake Wright and Tommy Elliott shooting wide before the unfortunate Wright was pole-axed close to goal by a fierce, likely scoring shot.