Carlisle United came out on top in their crunch relegation dogfight at home to Macclesfield Town.
A single goal from the unlikely source of defender Mark Birch gave the Cumbrians the edge in a tense game that definitely wasn't for the purist.
Points are precious at this stage of the season and Carlisle boss Roddy Collins was pleased with the result. "These are welcome three points. We put in a very workmanlike performance." And Collins had words of praise for players and fans: "It was a great finish by Mark Birch. I thought his performance at centre-back was exceptional - I am delighted for the lad. He's a great player to have in the team.
"I commend the supporters for the way they got behind the team. We needed them to do that at times and the support was absolutely brilliant. I thank them for that." Disappointed Macclesfield boss David Moss conceded that things hadn't gone according to plan for his struggling Silkmen: "We lost the game in the first ten minutes when we didn't get a kick of the ball. It looked like we came for a stroll in the summer sunshine," he moaned.
United went at Macclesfield from the off and George Abbey had to clear a Paul Raven header from under his crossbar when his keeper was beaten in the third minute.
Macclesfield's nerves were jangling and Darren Dunning was booked in the seventh minute after committing his third foul of the game.
Stuart Green planted the free-kick into the visitors goalmouth and as Macclesfield failed to clear, Birch lashed home a fierce 12-yard volley for his first ever league goal in the eighth minute.
Ten minutes later Moss took Dunning off before he was sent off and two minutes later he had to reshuffle again when an innocent but ugly clash of heads between Jon McCarthy and Steve MacAuley left the Macclesfield man knocked out and stretchered off.
Moss explained that: "MacAuley had suffered a broken nose and concussion. I hope he's back soon he's the sort of player we need if we're going to survive, I wish I had ten more players like him." Goalscorer Birch said: "That was the first time I've been up for a corner since I came to the club about seven years ago. I just smashed it and it went in.
"That was only my second goal in eight years. I got one when I was at Northwich Victoria."