East Thurrock 2 Spennymoor Town 5.

Moors pulled off one of the best away wins in their history – both the new club’s and the old -- when they won their third round Buildbase FA Trophy replay by 5-2 with a magnificent performance at East Thurrock last night.

Spennymoor shrugged off an arduous 260 mile trip to Essex to recover from an early setback thanks to a superb hat trick from Andy Johnson. They had midfielder Jamie Chandler sent off for two bookable offences with the score at 3-1, but any revival was quickly snuffed out by an all action performance, with Moors scoring twice when they had ten men.

Yet again, Moors proved that they can never be written off, and in the quarter finals they will now be away to National League side Bromley, who beat Workington 7-1 in their replay.

Moors got off to the worst possible start on 5 minutes, when midfielder Shane Henry was penalised for a foul about 30 yards out, and Montel Agyemang’s free kick, which was aimed towards his team mates in the middle, flew over everyone and dropped into the net past keeper Jordan Porter.

Moors bounced back and put the National League South side under pressure, and nearly levelled with an effort by Joe Tait that went just wide, then Andy Johnson dribbled through the defence but was stopped by a last ditch tackle. That was a taste of what was to come from Johnson.

However, Thurrock nearly got a second when Agyemang fired just wide after his initial effort was blocked.

Moors recovered and drew level on 35 minutes when Kallum Griffiths crossed from the right for Johnson to head firmly past Lucas Lidakevicius, the second time he has scored against Thurrock.

And it got even better for Moors just on half time. Lidakevicius somehow managed to keep put a great effort by Rob Ramshaw, but he had no chance from the corner that followed, the ball being headed powerfully home by top scorer Glen Taylor at the far post.

The 40 loyal Moors supporters who made the trip on the club’s free transport were celebrating again four minutes after half time, when free kick specialist Kallum Griffiths fired the ball over the defensive wall and into the net off the inside of the post.

Thurrock were straight back into the game on 52 minutes. Midfielder Jamie Chandler, who was booked for a first half foul, was shown a second yellow for handball in the area, and Lewis Smith tucked away the penalty.

However, Moors showed their strong character again by going 4-2 up on 56 minutes when Taylor cleverly sent Johnson racing through, and he fired past the helpless keeper.

And there was more to come on 62 minutes, when the unstoppable Johnson latched on to a through ball and powered a left foot shot past Lidakevicius for 5-2, all of Moors’ goals coming in the space of 27 minutes.

The three goal margin gave them plenty to hang on to, and they concentrated on keeping Thurrock out for the remainder of the game, to the extent that Porter had barely any direct efforts to save.

Porter, Griffiths, Tait, Curtis, Mason, Chandler, Henry, Hall (sub Dixon 78), Ramshaw, Johnson (sub Chantler 87), Taylor.

Subs not used: Lowson, Fewster, Mondal.

Attendance 236.