Rejuvinated Moors beat The Nash

Spennymoor returned to winning ways with an accomplished victory over Curzon Ashton, aided by a Rob Ramshaw double.

Ramshaw was excellent throughout an engrossing encounter which also Ben McKenna score his first goal of the campaign in the dying stages.

Harry Flowers’ towering header ten minutes into the second half threatened to haul The Nash back into contention, but Moors were well worth a valuable three points.

Jason Ainsley made four changes to his starting eleven, bringing in the experienced trio of Carl Magnay, Joe Tait and Mark Anderson, as well as winger Stephen Thompson.

Following an aggressive and bright start from Spennymoor, the game’s opening exchanges came to a halt when Nash captain Dale Whitham was forced off following a clean but hard challenge from James Curtis.

The game’s first clear sight of goal arrived in simple fashion when a routine ball over the top found former Boston striker Dominic Knowles, but his shot on the angle was thwarted by the alert Dale Eve before being cleared by Curtis.

Moors hit back as the game began to open up, with Stephen Thompson’s acrobatic effort fizzing into the gloves of the grateful Cameron Mason.

Curzon failed to heed the warming shot fired by a pumped up Spennymoor side, and after a long ball up field found the onside Rob Ramshaw, he took a beautiful touch before prodding his shot past Mason.

That goal, much needed following a 2-0 defeat against Guiseley on Tuesday, led to more chances, with the best of them falling to goal scorer Ramshaw.

First, he headed wide from a Thompson cross, before Mason did superbly to tip his goal bound strike over the bar.

The visitors posed little threat after a lively opening, with a new look defensive set-up dealing well with the attacking threat of Knowles and Alex Curran.

The second half began in scrappy fashion with both sides unable to get a foot on the ball and build a sequence of passes.

That phase of play suited the visitors, and they claimed an equaliser eight minutes after the restart when Harry Flowers nodded in from six yards after a corner was half cleared high into the air.

A swift response arrived as Ramshaw once again showed his class to double his personal tally, easily rolling his man before cutting inside and drilling a powerful drive past Mason.

Moors managed the game well over the next ten minutes before fashioning another chance which fell to Ramshaw yet again, but after a smart exchange with Glen Taylor, his shot was straight down the throat of Mason.

Curzon’s goalkeeper almost claimed an assist as Moors threatened to shoot themselves in the foot with some calamitous defending.

His long punt up field was allowed to bounce by Adam Blakeman, allowing substitute Jude Oyibo to nip and chest the ball down before turning a shot goal bound. Eve blocked the initial effort before the ball was scrambled clear.

Knowles was next to test Eve as The Nash began to gamble with the game entering its final stages, before Taylor’s shot was well saved by the impressive Mason.

Substitute Ben McKenna sealed the win when his shot bobbled past Mason following superb work by Ryan Hall.