The Silkmen's FA Cup journey is over.

A Sam Heathcote own goal is all that separated National League North side Macclesfield from Premier League outfit Brentford.

With 116 places between them, John Rooney can be proud of the performance his side put in.

Visiting Brentford, meanwhile, will go on to face West Ham United in the fifth round of the historic cup competition.

Macclesfield took on Brentford in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup (Credit: Nub News)

In the opening half an hour, it was Macclesfield who looked most likely to open the scoring.

Both Duffy and Dawson saw efforts from distance go narrowly wide, while Brentford failed to register a shot on target in the first 30 minutes.

However, with halftime approach, the visitors started to grow into the game and began to pile on the pressure.

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Ten minutes before the break and Max Dearnley was finally summoned into action, getting down low to keep out Reiss Nelson from close range.

With nothing to split the sides, the referee blew for half time - 0-0.

Keith Andrews clearly had some stern words for his players during the break, Brentford starting the second half with a renewed intensity.

The Bees bombarded the Macclesfield box with a series of corners but were unable to break the deadlock, Mathias Jensen coming closest as his cross dipped below the crossbar, Dearnley doing well to tip it over.

With 20 minutes of normal time left to play, Rooney decided to switch things up, bringing James Gale and Luke Matheson on for Isaac Buckley-Ricketts and Luke Matheson.

Unfortunately, this coincided with the visitors taking the lead.

A tricky cross from Aaron Hickey down the Brentford left came into the box, with Sam Heathcote's attempt to head it out for a corner ending up in the back of the net.

The hosts looked to respond, D'Mani Mellor testing the Brentford keeper on a number of occasions,

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and the score remained at 1-0 come the final whistle.