The match was an exact reversal of the meeting between the two sides at Moss Rose earlier in the season. On that occasion it was Macclesfield who fought back from 2-0 down to draw the game with two goals in the last five minutes.
Macclesfield looked comfortable at 2-0 in this game and were stroking the ball around with confidence until five minutes from time when Kayode Odejayi raced onto a speculative long ball and thumped a low shot beyond goalkeeper Alan Fettis.
From that point on the visiting defence was all at sea and as Cheltenham threw men forward into attack, defender Gavin Caines found the chance to bundle in a last minute equaliser from close range following a goalmouth melee.
Both sides rattled the woodwork during an uninspiring first half that began brightly but soon became a midfield slog.
Fettis was out quickly to dive at the feet of Cheltenham's Brian Wilson after only two minutes and, three minutes later, Cheltenham striker Steve Guinan struck the foot of a post with a firm shot.
Home goalkeeper Shane Higgs saved well from a drive by Alan Navarro at the other end, while visiting striker Clyde Wijnhard struck the post with a diving header from a Kevin McIntyre cross on the 20 minute mark.
Both Guinan and Macclesfield's Jon Parkin sent efforts over the crossbar but the clearest chance of the half fell to Wijnhard shortly before the break. Parkin found him with an unselfish ball into space but the Dutchman scuffed his shot with only Higgs to beat.
Macclesfield took the lead on 58 minutes when Parkin was brought down on the edge of the penalty area and defender Kevin Sandwith curled an expert left-footed free-kick around the wall and in.
Parkin added the second after 72 minutes when he drilled a shot past Higgs from the edge of the area following good approach work from Wijnhard.
But Cheltenham kept plugging away and made it only one defeat from their last seven league and cup games with that late rally.