Macclesfield lost their unbeaten status in League Two to Wycombe this afternoon after they were made to pay for squandering a host of first half chances.

The visitors struck twice after the break and although substitute Gareth Evans notched his first goal for the club it was little consolation.

Luke Dimech returned to Ian Brightwell's otherwise unchanged starting line-up after his international duties as Macc looked to build on their first victory of the season at Hereford.

Hotshot striker Francis Green almost caught the Chairboys' keeper off guard after just four minutes as his ambitious 30 yard effort forced Jamie Young to scurry across his goal.

A mix up between Young and defender Russell Martin forced the keeper into a rushed clearance and when Danny Thomas charged down the kick his blushes were spared as it fell to a defender to clear.

Terry Dunfield's quick free kick played Green through and when his shot was palmed out to Jimmy McNulty the young defender horribly mis-hit his 10 yard follow up and it trickled wide with the keeper well out of position.

Jimmy McNulty - Should have put Macc in front on 15 minutes

At the other end hitman Jermaine Easter was played in by strike partner Scott McGleish but he took too long to pull the trigger and was denied by the legs of Tommy Lee.

With the home defence temporarily floundering Wycombe missed another guilt edged opportunity to break the deadlock when Matt Bloomfield somehow failed to tap in Martin's low cross from only a few yards out at the back post.

In an end to end first half it was next Adam Murray's turn to miss a fine chance on 20 minutes.The ex-Derby midfielder found Martin Gritton in the box and when he received the return pass he could only fire at Young from 12 yards.

Green thought he had put Macc ahead minutes later after latching on to a ball forward but he was deemed to have pushed his man to reach the ball first.

Dimech made a brilliant sliding challenge to deny Easter when he looked to be through on goal again and McGleish acrobatically volleyed over the bar as the Macc defence looked for an offside flag that never came.

Green again had the ball in the net after neatly rounding the keeper when found by Murray's clever pass - however the flag was up again for a very tight offside decision.

Kevin McIntyre surged forward five minutes before half-time and as the ball bounced kindly for him his vicious volley from 20 yards was beaten away by Young.

Macc came even closer to scoring just before the interval when McIntyre's free kick was headed onto the bar by Gritton and cleared by a relieved defender.

The game was somehow goal-less at the halfway stage despite a number of chances at both ends and with Macc having the better of the game apart from a ten minute spell of Wanderers pressure.

It was a different story after the break though as Macc's flowing passing game seemed to come to a halt and the visitors took control for long periods.However, there were still chances to be had for both sides.

Stefan Oakes drilled a low free kick straight into Lee's arms from 20 yards and Macc could have gone in front when Murray's lifted ball was collected by Green who could only blast over under pressure from two defenders.

Wycombe went in front on 65 minutes and the goal was created by ex-Silkman Martin Bullock who had been rather anonymous up to that point.He was found in acres of space on the right wing and played a sensational low teasing cross behind the Macc backline which was tapped in at the far post by McGleish.

Martin Bullock - Had a fairly quiet afternoon but still created the important opening goal

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Macc and the chances began to dry up.McIntyre almost conjured a goal from nothing with a viciously swerving drive which flew just wide of the near post and Thomas shot well wide from long range as the Silkmen became more desperate.

Substitute Rueben Reid killed the game off in the 89th minute when an attempted clearance was blocked and fell fortuitously for him just outside the box.He raced forwards, cut back inside Dimech and as Lee came out to close him down poked it underneath him from ten yards.

Gareth Evans smashed home from Dunfield's ball into the box with around a minute of injury time remaining but there was to be no dramatic ending as the long balls into the box were comfortably dealt with.

After a solid first half Macc probably should have been in front but after missing so many chances they failed to turn up after the break and old-boy Bullock just needed one pass to unlock the home defence and condemn Macc to their first league defeat of 2007-08.

Andy Brinkhurst