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Paul Simpson's hopes of starting his managerial career at Town with a win, were dashed when hosts Macclesfield scored twice in the last eight minutes to record only their third home win of the campaign.

"It's disappointing to have lost obviously but I thought up until their first goal we were comfortable and they didn't look like scoring. We knew what to expect, we knew they'd be direct and put a lot of long balls in but I felt we coped with it comfortably. I was delighted with the two centre-halves and all the back four to be fair. It was a blow to lose Marc Tierney with a calf injury at half-time but I thought we coped quite well with it.

"We deserved our goal but they scored two very good goals. I don't know how many times that happens; when a former player (Jamie Tolley) gets stick from the fans and then pops one in. The winning goal from Green was a fantastic strike; I don't think any goalkeeper would have stopped that one. There are a lot of things I can be pleased about but the most disappointing thing is the result. The way we conceded the first goal I was also disappointed with as we had a couple of chances to clear the ball. There are all sorts of little things happening all over the pitch in areas where you don't think they can hurt you but they can cause problems and that's what happened today."

Simpson was delighted to see Dave Hibbert find the target after replacing Tierney at the break. It was the striker's first goal since finding the net away at Bradford at the end of January.

"It was a very good goal. I thought Pugh on the right caused a few problems throughout the game and I was delighted with his contribution. Hibbert took his goal very well so like I said there were good things out there but it's disappointing we're going away from here with nothing.

"I think Dave Hibbert's demonstrated this season that he can score goals it's just unfortunate that he's had a bit of a run lately where he's not been scoring," said Simpson. "Maybe this is the change for him. Maybe he can get himself into the side on a regular basis and start scoring goals. He took his goal out there very well, I thought he was a threat and won a lot of balls in the air and put a lot of good balls out wide to Pugh. There are a lot of things we can work with. As I said at the press conferences on Wednesday we have to make sure we get enough points onto the board to make sure we stay in this division. I'm sure the league will have got a lot tighter after today's games. We've allowed Macclesfield to get a lot closer to us today which is disappointing because we had a chance to put them to bed."

With four out of the bottom five picking up points today - including vital wins for the bottom two - Town continue to look nervously over their shoulders as they seek only their second win of the year. They have a nine-point cushion over the last relegation place. How much of a concern was that to the former Rochdale, Carlisle and Preston boss?

"It's a concern to us obviously. We have to continue to work hard like we have done today, get the players playing as freely as they did today and start picking up results. We don't want to be down there. We've got a lot of games coming up against teams down there with us and what we've got to do is start picking up points hopefully starting next week at Dagenham."

Having spent five months in the managerial wilderness, Simpson was still happy to be back in the game depite his debut in the Shrews hot seat ending in defeat.

"It's the result that you remember at the end of the day, but it's still what I want to do. We'll start back in on Monday and get prepared for two tough fixtures over the Bank Holiday period. We had fantastic support out there and I didn't expect that many to make the journey across. The fans gave me a good welcome but everyone's going away disappointed. We wanted to put on a performance and give them a result that would have sent them hope happy. Unfortunately, we've not been able to do that but hope to be successful in our next game."

The new manager recalled defender Luke Jones to the side after cutting short his loan move at Aggborough, a decision which angered the Kidderminster management.

"It was a decision that I thought was the right thing to do," said Simpson. "I felt we needed extra legs out there and Luke gives us that. I thought he did really well out there and you certainly couldn't fault any of the centre-backs today. I think the problem with us is that we're a very young side and we need some experience in there - a bit of a spine. We need to learn how to grind out results and how to win games."

David Hunt was badly injured late on and the manager had concerns about the collar-bone injury to the midfielder as well as the calf knock for Marc Tierney.

"We're going to send Hunty to hospital 'cos he's struggling, and we'll need to get it x-rayed to makes sure it isn't broken. He's in a hell of a lot of pain and so's Marc who took a nasty bang on the calf. It was seizing up as the game was going on so that's why we changed things at half-time. So there's a few bumps and bruises but the biggest disappointment is the result."