Ashington 24th January 2012 STL Div.1
Spennymoor Town suffered their heaviest league defeat in six years when they were well beaten by F.A.Vase conquerors Ashington at Woodhorn Lane on Tuesday night. However, the defeat was the first in six games and only the third of the season for the Moors who still remain on course for their third consecutive league title.
Moors made one change to the side that won comfortably at South Shields at the weekend with Chris Mason replacing Stephen Foster at the back. A tight opening which was reminiscent to the F.A.Vase game between the two sides in December continued until the half hour mark when the game exploded into life. Gavin Cogdon had gone close with the Moors’ first effort when his shot flew inches over, but minutes later Steven Richardson met a right wing corner from Keith Graydon to direct a bullet header into the roof of the net.
But the Colliers hit back superbly to reverse the lead with two well taken goals in ten minutes before the break.
The equaliser came following a corner on the right by former Moors schemer Tommy English which was not cleared and when James Taylor played the ball across, Mark O’Dea clipped home right footed, squeezing the ball between keeper Craig Turns and the post.
With only seconds of the half remaining, Newcastle United loanee Dan Taylor fired Ashington ahead. James Taylor fed Marc Walton who pulled the ball back from the by-line for Taylor who applied a great first touch then whipped home across Turns and inside the far post.
Any chance Moors had of getting back into the game early in the second period vanished with only 33 seconds played in the second period, it was Taylor on the mark again to push his side into a 3-1 lead as English chipped through a precision pass to Taylor who shrugged off Mason before slotting wide of Turns.
Moors still enjoyed good spells of possession but failed to hurt the hosts in the right areas, and it was no surprise when they stretched their lead in the final ten minutes. Sub Phil Bell tussled with Michael Laws inside the area and when grounded Referee Neil Sharp had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Bell dusted himself down and sent Turns the wrong way from the resultant penalty to rub more salt in the Spennymoor wounds.
A bad night all around where Moors – uncharacteristically – looked defensively vulnerable but in truth were beaten by the better team on the night, therefore they will be hoping to bounce back on Saturday at home to Marske United at The Brewery Field, kick off 3pm.
Line-Up: Turns, Griffiths, Mason©, Dodds, Laws, Capper, Andrews, Moore, Richardson, Cogdon, Graydon.
Subs Used: Johnston, Garvie, Ruddy.
Subs Not Used: Ryan, Peacock
Spennymoor allowed themselves to be beaten by a very physical team, who play in a very similar manner to that of Sunderland RCA. In fact both teams seem to epitiomize how most good non-league teams play, resorting to dirty play when necessary. Yes,Spennymoor were poor defensively, but they have shown on previous occasions that they can cope with the type of football that is played by Stoke city in the Premier League. Ashington resorted to desperate fouling, in the the second half especially, when free kicks were given just outside the penalty area. It is regrettable that referees’in the Northern League
do not clamp down on fouling that would not be allowed by Preniership referees’. This said spennymoor cannot expect sympathy when defenders allow themselves to be pushed out of the way by a direct, and aggressive approach to playing football.