After the 6-0 drubbing of Leeds at Hillsborough on Saturday, Sheffield Wednesday were faced with the possibility of being brought back down to earth with a bang this evening when non-league Macclesfield made the trip to S6 for the F.A. Cup 3rd round replay.
Chris Maguire got the home side off to a fine start with the opening goal inside 5 minutes and Wednesday went on to boss the first half. Despite their dominance Stuart Gray's side could not find the second goal and would have been frustrated to go into the break with only a slender lead.
By contrast Macclesfield would have felt that they got off lightly and came out for the second half knowing that a cup upset was still not out of the question.
Wednesday lost Reda Johnson early on in the second half. The defender had been influential in helping the Owls push forward in the first 45 minutes and within 15 minutes of him going off his replacement Joe Mattock conceded a somewhat debatable penalty for handball.
Macclesfield's top scorer Boden made no mistake from the spot to breathe life into the tie and for a spell the visitors were in the ascendancy.
Scott Kay struck the woodwork when well placed for the underdogs and as that chance went, so seemingly did Macclesfield's. Shortly after that Maghoma fired the home side back into the lead before further goals from Jermaine Johnson and Miguel Llera in the closing stages finished off the plucky non-league side.
The 4-1 win books Wednesday a 4th round tie away to League 2 Rochdale, though the Owls will be taking nothing for granted having seen Dale see off Leeds in emphatic fashion in round three.
With the 4th round tie set to take place on 25th January Wednesday's home Championship clash with QPR, scheduled for the same date, will have to be rearranged.