SPENNYMOOR TOWN V MATLOCK TOWN

FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round 

This week AGCR takes a second visit of the season to the Brewery Field this time for a foray into the FA Trophy. In a First Qualifying Round tie Spennymoor Town take on NPL Premier Division rivals Matlock Town. It is a lovely day in South Durham with blue skies, sunshine and a mild breeze ruffling the trees behind each goal, their autumn leaf fall aided and abetted by some wayward shooting during the warm up.

Spennymoor will hope to replicate their FA Cup form that has propelled them into the first round proper of the senior tournament – but will next week’s tie at MK Dons prove a distraction from the more realistic prospect of a good Trophy run. Both of today’s teams have winning records in the league so a tight game is expected.

Matlock start the better, pressing forward without any end product until, fifteen minutes in, Niall McManus swings a deep cross, right footed in from the left wing. It is too deep for his forwards to reach, and ditto for Spennymoor keeper Dan Lowson who clutches at thin air as the ball sails over his head and in to the net.

The lead is not undeserved and minutes later Matlock centre half Dwayne Wiley tries to double it with a header from a corner that this time Lowson is able to reach low down to his right.

By the half hour Matlock are fading and Spennymoor look more like a home team on a nine game unbeaten run. Shane Henry has a header cleared on the line before an angled cross eludes everyone in the box, and narrowly misses the far post. A Robert Ramshaw volley rattles the low stand roof behind the goal and twice shots from Mark Anderson are half-blocked by the impressive Matlock defenders before being pounced upon by the equally vigilant keeper, Phil Barnes.

Through all this Matlock remain dangerous on the break with Curtis Morrison and Marcus Dinanga forming a mobile and speedy duo up front.

Spennymoor start the second half as they ended the first, piling on the pressure. After five minutes an innocuous looking prod forward dribbles through the heart of the Matlock defence, a possibility seen only by Spennymoor’s Anderson who runs onto it and coolly slots the ball into the corner of the net.

The home team press for a winner and Anderson flicks a smart header goalward from a good centre from Kallum Griffiths, only to see Barnes tip it expertly over the bar. Barnes is called into action again when a thirty-five yard pile driver from Jamie Chandler dips viciously requiring the keeper to employ his knees to deflect the ball back out.

As Spennymoor go all out for a win they leave space behind that Matlock are well able to exploit. McManus is key to their breaks, shooting just over the bar and getting his head to a fierce cross, requiring Lowson to back-peddle and catch the loping ball right on his line.

Ten minutes to go heralds some frantic end to end play. In particular Nathan Fisher for Spennymoor (on since half time) and McManus for Matlock take turns to threaten; McManus’ two attempts flash across the goal, while Fisher’s two rise over the bar.

With just a few minutes left Morrison for Matlock is forced away from goal but manages to turn and make his way along the dead ball line. With no angle to work with and precious little support he fires the ball hard and low towards the near post. Lowson stoops to gather and somehow lets the ball through his grasp and between his legs with a final ricochet off his ankle sending the ball spinning agonisingly slowly over the line for an almost comic goal.

But it is no laughing matter for Spennymoor who have dominated for three quarters of the game. They throw everything forward but the nearest thing to a goal is back at their end when Lowson has to tip over a speculative long distance shot. Such is a goalkeeper’s lot that a couple of good saves mean nought when weighed against two errors that cost the game.

Matlock will return home buoyed by their good fortune; Spennymoor will have to now take the more difficult route to Wembley via Milton Keynes.