Harrogate RA 2 Spennymoor Town 3.

Spennymoor Town recorded their seventh successive win at Harrogate RA – but they were nearly forced into a replay in their FA Trophy first qualifying round tie.

Moors won their first FA Trophy tie for nine years with a 3-2 win, but they had to withstand a late fightback by the West Yorkshire side.

After Moors full back Kallum Griffiths cleared an effort off the line, Moors took the lead on 16 minutes when Shane Henry chested the ball down inside the Harrogate box, and beat keeper Karl Dean.

Henry had another effort saved by the keeper, before Liam Henderson scored his 11th goal of the season. There were several players involved in a flowing move, which ended with Andrew Stephenson and Anthony Peacock opening up the defence for Henderson to score with a low shot across the keeper.

Harrogate improved considerably after the break, and they pulled a goal back on 48 minutes when Malachi Farquharson fired past Paul McHugh.

But four minutes later, Moors were 3-1 up when Gavin Cogdon ran from inside his own half, played a 1-2 with Mikey Roberts, then squeezed the ball past two defenders on the line.

Henderson was denied a fourth by the keeper’s legs before Harrogate threw everything at Moors in the last 20 minutes. They pulled a goal back through Nathan Cartman’s effort into the top corner, and then Moors had to be at their best defensively as they cleared three efforts off the line.

Moors manager Jason Ainsley said; “We’re pleased to be through to the next round. We scored three superb goals but in the end had to dig in as we made life difficult for ourselves. Their forwards caused us problems especially in the second half, but we’re delighted to keep our run going.”

Moors are now away to the winners of the replay between Bamber Bridge and Lancaster on November 1st.

Their next game is the Durham Challenge Cup tie against Darlington at the Brewery Field on Tuesday night, but with a big FA Cup tie coming up against Telford this Saturday, manager Jason Ainsley is highly unlikely to field a strong side.