Macclesfield fell to their third straight defeat at Shrewsbury as their hosts underlined their promotion credentials with an impressive win.

The Shrews came from behind to maintain their third place in the table, while an outclassed Macc were sent packing empty-handed.

In a decent opening for the Silkmen, Hamza Bencherif put them ahead on 19 minutes with a delightful strike.

Lewis Chalmers' short free kick was thumped from all of 25 yards beyond Ben Smith for the Algerian's 10th goal of the season.

But the lead lasted just three minutes. Macc piled men forward at a corner which left Shaun Brisley and Izak Reid heavily outnumbered at the back. Mark Wright fed Jon Taylor and, with options left and right, he skipped beyond Brisley's challenge and drilled the leveller beyond Jose Veiga.

Under intense pressure for most of the half, Macc were grateful to Veiga for a smart tip-over to deny Taylor a second goal shortly before the winger was taken off due to the effects of a virus.

His replacement, Lionel Ainsworth, gave a master class in first-time finishing in a second half played almost exclusively in the Macc half of the pitch.

On 66 minutes he pounced on a loose ball in the box to put the hosts ahead and sealed the win 20 minutes from time with an even better hit, Veiga being offered no chance with either strike.

Matt Harrold's 90th minute goal, following an impressive passing move, served only to compound Macc's misery but, in truth, didn't flatter Shrewsbury. Tweet