Eastleigh 0-2 Macclesfield Town

Macclesfield Town players and fans celebrate their promotion at the final whistle

Macclesfield Town have been promoted to the English Football League after their win against Eastleigh crowned them National League champions.

Victory for the Silkmen means they cannot be caught by second-placed Tranmere, with their six-year stay in non-league set to come to an end.

John Askey's side took an early lead when Tyrone Marsh latched on to David Fitzpatrick's cross to fire home.

Mitch Hancox scored on the hour-mark to wrap up victory on the south coast.

Macclesfield will return to the EFL having been relegated in 2011-12, with their final game of this campaign against Dagenham & Redbridge on 28 April.

It has been an eventful season for the Silkmen, who issued an apology to players and staff in February after they went unpaid due to a "technical issue".

Despite the uncertainty over wages, Macclesfield have been top of the table since 9 December and continued their fine form in the National League.

Aldershot closed to within a point of them on 27 January, but a sequence of just one defeat in the games that have followed has seen them pull away from the rest of the league.

One other fifth-tier side will join Macclesfield in League Two next season.

Six teams will be involved in a new National League play-off format in 2017-18:

• Games will be one-legged, with teams in fourth and fifth hosting the seventh and sixth clubs in a qualifying round.

• The winners of those matches will then move into the semi-finals before the promotion final at Wembley on Saturday, 12 May.

• Teams that finish second and third will progress straight to a semi-final at their home ground, in theory giving them an advantage as they will play one match fewer and have a home tie.