Many players believed the two points gained had been the culmination of a lot of hard work and hard knocks following seven previous National Three (North) fixtures, and one humbling National Trophy first round defeat at Kendal.

But Marns is experienced enough to know the optimism will count for little if Halifax are unable to build from their platform, starting with this afternoon's return trip to Kendal.

"We have to make sure that we don't have one good week and then take two steps back," said Marns, who made the most of fine approach play to notch two tries against Macclesfield.

"It is about consistency now. Hopefully this will have given us the impetus to pick up and start climbing the league. This result has to be used in a positive way – as a form of motivation.

"We have taken probably two or three steps forward. Now we have to ensure that in the weeks to come we take another one, then another one and continue to build something."

Marns believes Halifax can take heart from Macclesfield's plight last season when they got off to a similar poor start yet lived to fight another day at this level.
"At this stage last season Macclesfield were 15 points adrift and, like us, had failed to win their first six or seven games.
"But they are still here and were second in the league coming into Saturday's game, so we cannot let ourselves be disheartened."
After struggling to remain competitive for a full 80 minutes in the majority of their matches this season, Marns also believes the fact that the fact the players remained focused and fit played a major part in breaking the duck for the campaign.
"Teamwork, and the fact that we stuck to the game plan that we should have been playing all season were the main factors," he added.
"We all bought into it and that is what it is all about – everybody doing the same thing rather than individual players going off and doing their own little bits.
"It was a moral victory and it had been a long time coming.
"In previous games we had threatened for 40, 60 and 70 minutes. But rugby union is the sort of game that can get away from you within five minutes if you are not careful.
"And, though we did our best to throw it away again, we really dug in when we were under pressure in the last five or six minutes whereas before we would have buckled.
"In games gone by we have defended fairly well but for 10 or 20 minutes we have dropped our guard.
"But against Macclesfield we stuck at it for 80 minutes and it showed.
"There is a link between playing for 80 minutes and the scoreboard and the result was proof of that.
"We also showed that when we do get the ball we can do good things with it.
"A prop could have finished my tries, with all respect. They were kind of walkovers but they are the kind of tries that a winger likes where you have just got to be there, catch it and go over.
"What was good was that at least one of them came from turnover ball. Instead of faffing around we got it out wide, ran some decent lines and we scored the tries."
Marns missed the 62-7 debacle at Kendal in the National Trophy through injury, but believes that result will not be repeated today.
"I understand Kendal wasn't the best of performances but at least we know what to expect," said Marns. "We can't go there and say they surprised us by how they play.
"What we have to do is build on what we achieved against Macclesfield
"We don't have to chuck the ball about all over. We showed by playing it tight and wide at the right times that we had some success.
"I just hope we remember that. We have to play with our heads as well as our hearts and put the pressure on the opposition rather than putting ourselves under pressure."