Magpies showed steel then silk to beat Macclesfield - now for the leaders South Shields
Boss Andy Preece admitted his Chorley team lived dangerously at times before completing a dramatic, last-gasp victory over Macclesfield at Moss Rose.
The Magpies felt the full force of the hosts’ attacking prowess from the first whistle on Saturday.
Adam Blakeman was forced to clear off the line after just 29 seconds and it appeared only a matter of time before the Silkmen would open the scoring.
However, the visitors held out in the first half, and although they went behind five minutes after the break, they pulled level when Mark Ellis’ back post effort was deflected into the net.
From then on, the visitors looked dangerous but also had to rely on goalkeeper Matty Urwin pulling off a couple of tremendous saves at the other end.
The Magpies sealed victory in the 95th minute when Mike Calveley bundled the ball home after Jack Moore’s free-kick had deflected onto the crossbar and then bounced off the back of Macclesfield goalkeeper Rogan Ravenhill.
The goal was cue for wild celebrations in the away end as the Magpies picked up their first win in a month to go 12 points clear of the drop zone and 11 behind the play-offs in the National League North.
"We were brave in the second half,” Preece told ChorleyFC TV. “We can’t say we deserved to win the game on that first half because we were penned in, but if you take the second half in isolation, we were definitely a match for Macclesfield and probably deserved to nick it at the end.”
There’s no rest for Chorley now as they prepare for four games in 11 days, starting with tonight’s visit of league leaders South Shields to Victory Park.
That is followed by two more home games against Buxton on Saturday and Kidderminster next Tuesday.
"It’s difficult when you’re playing back-to-back games against full-time teams when you’re trying to recover from playing Saturday-Tuesday,” said Preece.
“We will need our fans against. They fantastic again on Saturday and got behind the team.”