Wrexham were second best as they suffered a 4-1 defeat against Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose.

It was the Reds’ heaviest defeat of the season as Macclesfield won the top of the table encounter.

Macclesfield were on top from the start and took the lead after six minutes.

Tyrone Marsh played in Scott Wilson who broke the offside trap and ran clear from the halfway line before slotting past Chris Dunn.

Marsh and David Fitzpatrick went close with Macclesfield dominating while James Hurst had Wrexham’s first shot on target on 29 minutes as his low drive was gathered at the second time of asking by ex-Reds goalkeeper Shwan Jalal.

But Macclesfield should have made it 2-0 soon after, Scott Burgess’s corner was cleared off the line and Danny Whitaker put his follow-up over the bar from a great position.

A decent move in the second half led to a rare Wrexham opening as Keith Lowe slipped in the area when he went to block Paul Rutherford’s weak cross but the centre-back recovered in time to clear with Chris Holroyd unable to capitalise.

Wrexham enjoyed a good spell and although Burgess struck the crossbar for Macclesfield, the Reds levelled after 74 minutes.

Shaun Pearson’s header was blocked on the line, the ball came out to Mark Carrington whose cross was headed home by Scott Boden for his first Wrexham goal.

But Macclesfield were back in the lead four minutes later, Wilson latching onto Marsh’s throughball to slot past Dunn.

It got worse for Wrexham as Macclesfield made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute, Dunn spilled Danny Whitehead’s shot and Wilson pounced to bag his hat-trick.

Wrexham found themselves 4-1 down in the 90th minute, David Fitxpatrick scoring in the area from a corner.

Wrexham (4-4-2): Dunn; Roberts, M Smith: Pearson, Jennings; Rutherford (Mackreth 83), Hurst, Carrington, Kelly (Miller 60); Holroyd, Boden. Subs not used: Dibble, L Smith, Massanka.