Paul Tierney's second half strike put local rivals Stockport through to the Third Round of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy at Macclesfield's expense.

In an entertaining game Francis Green had earlier hit a post and Gareth Evans saw a late goal chalked off for offside as County held firm to send the Silkmen crashing out.

Ian Brightwell made a few changes to his normal line-up with Jonny Brain, Dave Morley, Simon Wiles and Jordan Hadfield all given a chance to impress as a few regulars were rested.

Anthony Pilkington registered the first shot of the night - hammering into the side netting from an acute angle following Izak Reid's poor defensive header.

Leslie Thompson saw a lot of the ball in the first half and the livewire winger's near post effort was palmed behind by Brain in the 12th minute.

County looked dangerous in the opening 20 minutes and spurned a number of chances to take the lead.  Liam Dickinson headed woefully wide from Anthony Elding's cross and moments later Thompson was involved again to smack a side-footed volley wide when found unmarked at the far post.

Macc struggled to kick into gear although a penalty shout was waved away in the 23rd minute when Kevin McIntyre surged down the left and played a neat one-two with Martin Gritton before going down under light pressure in the area.  Premier League referee Phil Joslin told the Macc skipper to get to his feet and the ball was cleared.

With Macc coming into the game more the County chances began to fade away, however they almost broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when a mix-up between Brain and Luke Dimech allowed a long ball to fall to Dickinson who could only hook wide of the open goal.

The Silkmen came even closer to scoring minutes later when another seemingly innocuous long ball was flicked into the box by Gritton and Green stuck out a leg only for his effort to bounce back off the foot of the post and away to safety.  It was Macc's first real chance but the closest either team would come in the first period.

Francis Green - Came closest to scoring for Macc in the first half

The visitors hit the post at the other end on 41 minutes through Elding's stooping header but the linesman's flag was raised as the ball was hacked clear.

Wiles wasted the final opportunity of the half when his run down the right was expertly picked out by Morley's raking 50 yard pass and after turning full-back Tierney inside out he wildly blasted over when he should have tried to pick out Green at the far post.

Gareth Evans was introduced for Green at the break and soon afterwards McIntyre and Michael Bowler were booked for an off the ball clash on the halfway line.

Stockport boss Jim Gannon sent on Adam Proudlock to replace Elding and four minutes later his side had the lead through a well worked goal.  Tierney surged forward down the left and played the ball into Thompson's feet who found the ex-Blackpool man's run into the box with a perfectly timed backheel.  His initial shot was parried by Brain but he continued his run to tuck away the rebound to the delight of the travelling contingent behind the goal.

Going behind seemed to wake Macc up and the game became more stretched with the home side committing more men forward to press for an equaliser.  Levi Reid wasted a good opportunity on the right by blasting into the side netting when his initial cross fell back to him and an Evans header was cleared off the line by Tierney following McIntyre's corner.

The young striker squandered a tremendous chance to put Macc level on 65 minutes when a defensive error put him though but rather than shooting he tried to lay the ball back to Gritton and his poor pass failed to punish County.

Gareth Evans - Should have been more selfish and gone for goal in the 65th minute

Substitute Proudlock looked dangerous for Stockport on the break as he seemed to fit the 'good touch for a big man' category and twice it took fantastic last ditch sliding challenges from Dimech to halt his progress.

Good work from Proudlock on the right allowed him to put in a great deep cross from the right and Wiles had to head behind just as Pilkington looked to nod in the second.

Gritton was guilty of missing an easy chance with 20 minutes to go as Wiles found him six yards out and the Scot headed over when relatively unchallenged in front of goal.

With Macc's big men forward following a free kick Jimmy McNulty nodded a ball through for Evans to lash in on the volley but the linesman had his flag up to deny the youngster.

James Jennings came on for Macc on 83 minutes as Morley was pushed up front to give the side more height in the closing stages.

Proudlock almost sealed things with three minutes to go when his curling shot was tipped over by Brain's fingertips although he was then booked after reacting to a late challenge by Levi Reid on halfway.  The Macc midfielder was also shown a yellow card for the foul.

With Macc throwing everything forward to take the game to penalties two more chances went begging in the four minutes of injury time.

Firstly Evans latched on to a ball down the right and pulled the ball back for Morley on the penalty spot but the centre-half failed to make any contact and the ball rolled to safety.  Finally in the dying seconds Morley flicked McIntyre's throw into the box and County stopper Conrad Logan came out and made himself big to deny Evans a dramatic leveller.

Again Macc were guilty of not putting their chances away when it mattered and were made to pay.  County scored a well worked goal and probably should have gone ahead in the first half but after piling on the pressure in the second period it seemed to be another one of those nights to forget in front of goal for the Silkmen.

Andy Brinkhurst