SPENNY IN FRAME AS TOWN ARE CUT DOWN
SPENNYMOOR inflicted a first away defeat of the season on Harrogate Town after a blistering first half performance.
Moors, now three points behind Town, cemented their place in the play-offs with a third straight league win.
A crowd of 1,085 witnessed a game which lived up to the pre-match hype, with both sides playing their part in an entertaining and lively affair.
Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley, after watching his side record their fifth home win of the season, said: “It was our best 90 minutes over the course of a season.
“To come up against a fulltime side who played some fantastic football and create as many chances as we did was great to see. The only disappointing thing is that we could have won four or five!
“We discussed at half-time that we needed to keep them out for the first 15 minutes of the second half. We managed to do that and then grew into the game again.”
David Foley added to his collection of stunning goals this season when he swivelled on the edge of the box and fired past James Belshaw, before Glen Taylor capitalised on some poor defending to double the lead.
Foley, who terrorised Ryan Fallowfield all afternoon, had the opportunity to increase the lead but he opted to shoot straight at Belshaw when Matthew Dixon was better placed.
Andrew Nelson scored his first goal for Harrogate shortly after with a header, but a curling effort from Rob Ramshaw restored Moors’ two-goal cushion.
It was Ramshaw’s first goal of the campaign and his first since he netted the winner against Stourbridge which secured Moors’ promotion at the end of last season.
A vital interception from Jamie Chandler under pressure from Leesley, who was waiting to tap-in at the back post, sent Moors into the break with a healthy
advantage from which they never looked back.
After a dominant performance from the home side in the first half, Harrogate turned on the pressure after the interval and almost reduced the deficit when captain Josh Falkingham smashed a long-range effort against the post.
Spennymoor could have added gloss to the win, but first Foley couldn’t stoop to direct a header from six yards, then Ramshaw was denied by Belshaw after going through one-on-one.
Harrogate manager Simon Irving said: “On the day the better team won. I thought we started sloppily and, overall, we have to do so much better than we showed. We didn’t clear the ball properly for the first goal and the second and third were poor defensively.
“We had a lot more of the ball in the second half but still didn’t deserve anything.”