East Thurrock United of the Ryman Premier League were left to regret a slew of first-half misses as an otherwise impressive performance by them ended in defeat by League Two Macclesfield.
The Essex club had negotiated four preliminary rounds to set up their first meeting with a league club in their 42-year history and they showed no signs of being unnerved by the magnitude of an occasion that attracted a crowd of 1,207.
There were four league scouts among the flock, including one from Manchester United, and they may have been pleasantly surprised by the sharpness and slickness of the hosts.
Certainly Macclesfield seemed to be caught off-guard and, in the first half, were continually dispossessed while dithering. The smoke wafting on to one corner of the pitch from a barbecue in a nearby back garden was hardly thick enough to be considered a distraction.
The entirely amateur home team quickly established primacy in midfield and came close to opening the scoring in the fifth minute, when Kris Newby headed Tom Stephen's cross just over.
They had an even better chance in the 12th minute, when Macclesfield's Lewis Chalmers slipped outside his own box. Kye Ruel exchanged ...
