Colin Daniel's spectacular goal at a chilly Moss Rose ended Crewe's hopes of picking up another three points on the road. The former Crewe Alexandra winger unleashed a contender for goal of the season to put Macclesfield Town 3-0 up and out of sight after just half-an-hour.
The home side had been gifted their first two goals after defensive slips under foot by Harry Worley and Danny O'Donnell. Both centre half's were caught out with the slippery conditions to allow Ben Wright to score after just four minutes and Paul Bolland just eight minutes later.
Crewe, who enjoyed the majority of the ball throughout the game were left frustrated by some fine saves from Jon Brain and some resolute defending from the Macclesfield centre-half's and impressive Bolland in front of them.
Substitute Calvin Zola did provide a lifeline just three minutes after coming on for Danny Shelley, but although the visitors continued to press looking for more goals they couldn't find a way past Brain.
Crewe suffered a sucker punch in stoppage time too with substitute Ricky Sappleton, who had previously scored at Gresty Road this season, took full advantage of a bounce from a Jon Brain kick to slot home a fourth for the home side.
With two festive fixtures in quick succession, Dario Gradi decided to change his side from the one that drew 2-2 with Rochdale on Boxing Day. A couple of those changes were forced upon him with his captain Mat Mitchel-King and Joel Grant picking up slight injuries. Mitchel-King was fit enough to be named on the substitutes bench for the short trip to Macclesfield but Grant's injury ruled him out.
Harry Worley replaced Mitchel-King at centre-half with Danny Shelley returning to the starting line-up on the right-hand side of midfield.
Simon Walton and top scorer Calvin Zola were also rested with a fit again Steven Schumacher back in the starting line-up for the first time since aggravating his calf in the FA Cup defeat to York City. Byron Moore also came into the starting line-up as a centre-forward alongside Clayton Donaldson.
With Mitchel-King and Billy Jones on the subs bench, the captaincy was handed to defender Danny O'Donnell for the first time in his career.
Our South Cheshire neighbours also had three former Crewe Alexandra players in their matchday squad with Colin Daniel starting and Lee Bell and Kyle Wilson on the substitutes bench.
The match kicked off with the Pussycat Dolls still blaring out over the Macclesfield PA system. Once it was turned off after about a minute of play there was an ironic cheer from both sets of supporters!
Perhaps the music interlude distracted Crewe because it took the home side just four minutes to take the lead. It was the former Alex winger, Colin Daniel cutting in from the from the left hand side and his low cross was turned home by Ben Wright from close range after Worley appeared to slip in front of Steve Phillips when stooping to head back to his goalkeeper. It was the worse possible start from the visitors.
It got doubly worse just eight minutes later as a defensive mistake by Danny O'Donnell allowed Paul Bolland to race through the heart of the Crewe defence. O'Donnell had tried to collect a short pass from his defensive partner Worley but couldn't get the ball fully under his control and the Macclesfield midfielder pounced to coolly slot it beyond Phillips. The surface, although clear of snow did look slippery under foot and Crewe were finding it hard to adjust.
After a dreadful start, Crewe tried to hit back almost instantly with Schumacher bringing out a stunning save from John Brain. The Alex midfielder thought he had scored after unleashing a powerful drive 20 yards - but at full stretch Brain did enough to palm it wide. From the resulting corner, O'Donnell flashed a Westwood delivery just wide with a downward header.
Following another corner via the right foot of Westwood, O'Donnell had another headed cleared from the goal line by Sean Hessey, who had to extend his neck muscles to head upwards and away. It had taken Crewe 20 minutes to find their feet, quite literally, but the Railwaymen were appearing more of a threat going forward.
With a two-goal advantage, Macclesfield were also a threat with their two wide men supplying Ben Wright with decent service. After another break forward, Ross Draper shot a couple of yards wide after picking up a good position on the edge of the Crewe penalty area.
Schumacher was arguably Crewe's most influential player in the first half of the first period and his well-struck volley on 26 minutes resided on the wrong side of the Macclesfield netting. It was a wonderful effort from the Alex midfielder that probably deserved better.
If Schumacher's effort was decent, Colin Daniel's strike for Macclesfield Town's third goal was absolutely stunning just four minutes later. A confident enough Daniel struck a dipping drive from almost 35 yards out to give Phillips absolutely no chance. Daniel had scored the goal of his life to silence his former club. His celebration saw him run to the Macclesfield bench where he was quickly mobbed by his colleagues and coaches. Crewe faced an uphill struggle and desperately needed a lifeline before the half-time interval.
A dangerous cross from Donaldson just evaded everyone inside a crowded penalty area before Murphy whistled one just over the top of the crossbar following a forceful run from Worley deep into the Macclesfield half of the pitch.
Crewe had enjoyed a lot of the ball and had created one or two half chances but went in at the interval 3-0 down.
Moore could have given Crewe a lifeline just six minutes into the second half but he tried to flick a shot from Shelley instead of getting possession under his control and composing himself.
Tootle, who scored his first senior goal on Boxing Day came awfully close to repeating the act with a splendid shot from 25 yards, but once again Brain showed his agility to tip it over the bar. Crewe continued to press and the corner count at this stage was 8 to 1 in favour of the visitors. The stat that mattered was 3-0 to Macclesfield and Crewe needed a goal, but Dario still resisted the temptation to bring on the club's leading goalscorer, Calvin Zola.
Ross Draper was booked for a reckless tackle on Murphy on the edge of the box but Brain punched Westwood's cross from the free-kick away from danger. After another fine passing move from the Railwaymen, Macclesfield broke quickly up the pitch after Brayford's delivery into the box failed to clear the first man. Carl Tremarco ran the length of the pitch and his cross found Wright at the far post, but the covering Shelley got enough on the shot to deflect it behind for a corner.
Zola appeared just after the hour mark for Shelley with Moore shifting over to the right hand side as Crewe went with three up front.
It took the Congolese striker just three minutes to make an impact with his 14th goal of the season. The towering striker challenged Brain in the air to meet a cross from Brayford and after the keeper couldn't collect it properly, Zola spun and put it into an empty net. The Macclesfield goalkeeper, certainly, and his players appealed for a foul but the referee had rightly judged it was a fair challenge.
The goal certainly gave Crewe a lift but it was Macclesfield's full-back Izak Reid having the next effort on goal after he was able to collect his own far post header. After tussling with Tootle close to the by-line, Reid cut back inside but had his firm drive blocked by Worley.
Worley was on hand again on 70 minutes to apply a decisive block on a shot from Colin Daniel. It was a timely interception from the defender, who has agreed to extend his loan spell with the club until the end of the season.
Keith Alexander decided to make his first change of the afternoon with Ricky Sappleton replacing Reid.
Crewe nearly forced home a second goal themselves with Donaldson stretching out a leg to a through ball from Murphy. Brain again got his fingertips to do and his defenders in front of him managed to complete the clearance.
The home side nearly wrapped up the points on 75 minutes but O'Donnell did brilliantly to block two close range efforts from Daniel and midfielder Ross Draper. The captain had put himself on the line to keep Crewe in the game as we entered the last ten minutes or so.
After a sublime run from Westwood, Donaldson poked an effort into the side netting. The striker should have shot across the goalkeeper and kicked the snow pile behind the goal to show his frustrating at missing a good chance.
With time running out for the Railwaymen, Miller replaced Moore. A minute later and the advanced Tootle had another effort deflected wide after some good approach play from Brayford. Crewe needed that goal to set-up up a grandstand finish and were certainly enjoying the majority of the possession.
With 9 minutes remaining, Zola was twice denied at close range by Brain after the impressive Tootle had delivered into the box. The striker couldn't believe that he hadn't managed to sneak it over the line.
Two minutes later and Bell was handed an appearance against his former club when replacing Tremarco.
With the game slipping away from the Railwaymen, Ashley Westwood's frustration got the better of him and he was booked for dissent after being involved in a slight scuffle on the edge of the Macclesfield box.
Crewe couldn't conjure up that one real chance to make a game of it in the dying minutes and to their credit, the Silkmen continued to press forward on the counter-attack themselves.
The Macclesfield substitute Ricky Sappleton did just that in stoppage time, when he bustled his way through Worley and O'Donnell to nudge a fourth past Phillips. Crewe had failed to deal with a long clearance up the field by Brain and Sappleton took full advantage.
