Spennymoor Town 3 Chasetown 0

Spennymoor set up a possible first round draw against one of the Conference giants when they easily beat Chasetown 3-0 in the final qualifying round of the FA Trophy at the Brewery Field on Saturday.

Moors were too quick and too skilful for their EvoStik First Division South opponents, who never got to grips with the Moors attack at all, leaving the home side wondering why they didn’t score more in the second half after leading 3-0 at half time.

And now Moors could be drawn against one of the Conference Premier big guns in Monday lunchtime’s draw.

“I thought we were superb from first minute to last,” said Ainsley. “The chairman set us three targets at the start of the season, one of which was to have a good run in the Trophy, and we’re delighted to have got through to the first round. We could draw one of the big Conference clubs now, and that would be fantastic.

“The players put a proper shift in and got the job done. It could have been six or seven in the second half, which was the only disappointment for us in the game. We started really sharp, and created some good chances.

“Anything now is a bonus, but a home game would be nice. The players deserve to be in the first round proper.”

Moors took the game to the Staffordshire side straight from the kick off.

There was an early chance for Steve Capper, who made a good run down the left, played a one-two with Anthony Peacock but drove the ball over the bar.

And on 6 minutes there was another one-two on the edge of the Chasetown box between Peacock and Gavin Cogdon, but Peacock fired wide.

Moors nearly opened the scoring on 10 minutes, when Cogdon cut in from the left, beat one man, and hit a powerful right foot shot just over.

Moors deservedly took the lead on 14 minutes, when Lewis Dodds found Peacock on the left, and even though the winger had a shot blocked, the ball came out to the right for Cogdon to squeeze home between the keeper and the right hand post.

A minute later, Moors were well in control when Capper crossed deep from the left for Nathan Fisher to chest the ball down on the six yard line and volley the second.

Moors pinned the visitors back, and they nearly went 3-0 up on 30 minutes when Capper crossed from the right for Shane Henry, coming in unmarked, to have a header saved under the bar by John Bateman.

There was another close shave for Chasetown when Chris Mason had a header blocked on the line from a corner, and it was no surprise when the visitors fell further behind on 40 minutes when Dodds split the defence with a perfect through ball for fellow midfielder Henry, again with an uncovered run, to hit first time under the advancing Bateman.

It was nearly 4-0 at the start of the second half, Joe Tait’s header was well saved under the bar by Bateman, and then the keeper went down to hold a low shot by Capper.

The woodwork saved Chasetown on 60 minutes when Peacock sent Cogdon racing clean through, but his left foot shot hit the base of the post after beating Bateman.

Chasetown’s first effort of note in the second half, a long range shot by Simon Brown, was easily saved by Adam McHugh.

Cogdon again found half a yard at the other end on the edge of the area, but he slipped as he aimed for the bottom right corner, and the ball went well wide.

John McReady, who looked quite sharp, made a good 40 yard run into the box, checked, and curled a left foot shot just over the top, then Michael Roberts, who replaced Cogdon, blazed wide when the ball dropped for him in the box.

The keeper pulled off his best save yet on 80 minutes, when he flung himself to his left to keep out a powerful downward header by Tait off Capper’s cross.

Moors midfielder Dodds said; “I thought we were unplayable at times in the first half, and in the second half we should have added to our lead and had to dig in.

“It’s been a testing month or so and we’ve had ours ups and downs. I think we’re starting to get there as a side. To get to the first round proper is a great achievement in our first year in the competition.”

Moors: McHugh, Griffiths, Mason, Dodds, Tait, Capper, McReady, Henry, Fisher (sub Ward 65), Cogdon (sub Roberts 63), Peacock (sub Green 79) Subs: Johnson, Stephenson.

The next round is due on December 13th, which means the home league game against Kendal has been moved to the following Tuesday, and in turn Moors now have three successive midweek games, the other two being against Brighouse in the league cup away on Tuesday, and at home on December 9th.