The entire Silkmen staff, in Butcher’s home town for their postponed League Two game at Northampton Town’s Sixfields, made an emotional visit to the cemetery little more than a week after what would have been his 31st birthday.

Macc may have plummeted alarmingly since the turn of the year and are yet to chalk up a victory in 2012 but the manager is adamant that his side’s performances haven’t been accurately reflected in points on the board.

"Against Cheltenham we may have lost 3-1 but two of their goals should have seen us get free kicks for fouls on Jose Veiga," he reasoned.

"Swindon went top with a win, after we missed a great chance, and Accrington couldn’t believe they were 2-0 up at half-time.

"So the performances have been better than the results suggest, we know we’re not far away from being a decent squad, even with the injuries we’re carrying."

Macc’s midfield has been the worst affected by the injury crisis and there was yet more bad news for the engine room regarding recent signing Dwayne Mattis.

The capture from Chesterfield netted on his debut at AFC Wimbledon but hasn’t yet been able to make a second outing after he went off injured at Kingsmeadow.

"Dwayne has suffered grade one damage to the ligament on the outside of his ankle and grade two damage on the inside," moaned the Macc boss.

"We’ve got Sam Wedgbury and Lewis Chalmers out after their hernia surgeries, although Wedge is freakish. He’s a fit lad and he’s not ready yet but he’s well ahead of Chalms in terms of recovery, even though he had his operation long after."

For those fit enough to feature, training has had to be amended in recent weeks with the cold snap not only putting paid to Saturday’s trip to Northampton but also any lengthy sessions on grass.

"Northampton wanted to re-arrange the game for Tuesday (yesterday)," he said. "They know how many injuries we have and they were trying to pull a fast one but if they’d called it off on Friday before we’d travelled down then maybe we could have done, but there was no chance of playing it this week anyway.

"We’ve been trying to train on all-weather pitches but those surfaces seem to find any little niggles. Marcus Marshall, Carl Tremarco and Nat Brown have all started to feel twinges so we’ve got some work done but we can’t train for too long on them.

"We did had some decent sessions over in Tenerife (at the squad’s warm-weather training camp) and we’ll be properly prepared, like we are for any game."

With struggling Plymouth next up for the Silkmen, Simpson is out to keep some distance between Macc and the teams below them.

"They’ve strengthened, they brought in Darren Purse, they’re fighting for their lives so we’ll have to apply ourselves. I’ve still got faith so I hope we get a good crowd in and they get right behind us."

The Blues coach watched his side throw away a lead when they conceded a try deep into injury time when the two met at Priory Park in October.

Macclesfield jetted off to their Tenerife training camp after the club’s fifth straight league defeat. But, far from a winter jolly, the manager says the benefits will make the excursion more than pay for itself.

Marshall joined the Silkmen on a month-long emergency loan from Rotherham the previous day and marked his debut with the opening goal half an hour in.

Nomads centre half Jon Blissett scored for the second week in a row to put the home side in the lead when he headed home a Stuart Johnston free kick but Kings came back, scoring twice before half time through Josh Roberts and Tom Darcy.

Broken Cross were under the cosh for most of the game and were caught out time and again pushing upfield, leaving keeper Lee Smith to face onrushing strikers with no defensive cover.

Macclesfield were repelling the Robins’ pressure and maintained the deadlock for more than an hour when George Donnelly and Waide Fairhurst combined to put him in, but the midfielder, renowned for his ball-striking prowess, snatched at his shot and found only the empty stand behind Wes Foderingham’s goal.

It’s a real learning curve for First Division Village, who have already lost by double figures on the same ground to Pack Horse.

Player-coach Jon Blissett put the hosting Nomads in front with a powerful first-half header but five minutes into the second half Cheadle were leading 2-1.

The appeals panel decided on Tuesday that the centre-back’s dismissal, for his part in an unseemly tangle with Swindon’s Aden Flint was justified and Brown was therefore ineligible for Macc’s midweek trip to AFC Wimbledon, as well as forthcoming League Two games against Cheltenham and Northampton.

Leading by example, as they have done for most of the season, were Club AZ, who gave poor Poynton Village a lesson in finishing at Mulberry Sports Ground as they ran out 13-0 winners.

Prestbury midfield playmaker Jordan Pearson took on the role of emergency goalkeeper for the hosts and he he didn’t disgrace himself but two goals in the first half – by Oli Brazier and emerging talent Jack Smith – gave Railway a comfortable half-time lead despite Prestbury seeing four good chances going begging.

The ceremony came after fundraising efforts by the Richard Butcher Memorial Fund, established after ‘Butch’ passed away a year ago, aged just 29.

The striker, Gary Simpson’s capture from Nantwich Town replaced groin strain victim GeorgeDonnelly up front against Torquay and showed some of the assets that prompted Simpson to bring him in for a five-figure sum.