Sturrock: 'It's been a very difficult season for this club'; Simpson: 'We had chances to get a win'

Sturrock: 'Need players who can come off the bench and make an impact'

Sturrock felt the Moss Rose pitch made it difficult for his side to get going, and said: "It wasn't a classic.

"It's been a very difficult season for this club. We only had four players signed at the start of the season and in reality we never recovered from that handicap.

"I haven't had chance to restructure the club yet but that is what we really need to do.

"I've got to look to move some players on and bring some players in because above all I've got to get a stronger bench.

"If you're going to challenge for honours at this level, or indeed any level, you need to have players who can come off the bench and make an impact. That's where we've been weak."

Macclesfield are now six points better off than second-bottom Barnet with two games remaining, and Simpson believes staying up will be a huge achievement.

He said: "I know it's only a point and that we're still not mathematically safe but for any team to go down with 51 points would be absolutely unprecedented, so all I can say is that I'm a lot happier a manager than some of those down there.

"If the man in the street knew just what disadvantages we had to contend with then he would be absolutely amazed. We're playing against clubs with budgets four or five times the size of ours so it's an achievement just to stay in the league every year let alone be challenging for honours.

"Everyone at this club has to wear four or five different hats and I'm absolutely proud of everyone, particularly the players who've given everything this season.

"I would have taken a point before the game because Southend have been absolutely flying. They beat Stevenage on Saturday and did Bradford by four so a point was always going to be a good result and in fact we had chances to get a win."

Source: PA

Source: PA