Spennymoor Town 0 Curzon Ashton 0.

Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley said that he was pleased with his side’s performance even though they drew a frustrating blank against Curzon Ashton at the Brewery Field on Saturday.

Moors outplayed Ashton United 5-0 in their previous one-sided home game, but Curzon had obviously done their homework, and came to the Brewery Field determined to pick up a point, by trying to stop Moors playing at every opportunity.

The result means that Moors drop to fifth in the table because of Boston United’s win over Hereford, but Ainsley was still pleased that his team bounced back from their 4-1 defeat at Brackley last week.

“We played some decent stuff at times in difficult weather conditions and on another day Glen Taylor could have had a hat trick,” he said. “The rain was that bad at times that the players could hardly see.

“We looked solid throughout and they only had one shot on target all game which Gouldy did well to tip over. We must have had 80 per cent possession in the game. Curzon didn’t really offer a great deal, and I felt that if we had scored one, then we would have gone on and scored more goals. Curzon set themselves up to come for a point, especially as they had a couple of players missing.

“But that’s the sort of game we would have lost in the past, we’ve been caught going gung-ho and teams have caught us with the sucker punch.

“I was pleased with the clean sheet after conceding four last week, and we’re looking forward to the game against York on Tuesday night. On the while, I was pleased with our performance – it was important to improve on last week’s defeat at Brackley.”

Curzon showed their intentions to disrupt Moors’ rhythm after 7 minutes when Moors midfielder Rob Ramshaw was brought down by full back Cameron McJannet who was booked, although Mark Anderson nearly made them pay with a 25-yard free kick that went just over the bar.

Curzon tried to break up the play as much as possible, but Moors managed to fashion an opener on the half hour when Shane Tuton crossed for Glen Taylor, who brought the ball down well, but his effort was well saved by Curzon keeper Cameron Mason.

The temperature of the game continued to rise along with Moors’ frustration, and after Olly Crankshaw was booked for a foul on Jake Hibbs, there was a flare up when Shane Henry was booked for a foul, and in the arguments that followed, Tuton was also shown a yellow card.

Moors had a great chance to open the game up just after half time, when Taylor was put clean through with just Mason to beat and looked certain to score his eighth league goal of the season, but the ball bobbled and he skied his shot over the bar.

Curzon showed more enterprise than in the first half, with Joe Guest and Connor Hughes both having shots blocked, but at the other end Jamie Chandler’s dangerous cross was somehow cleared off the line by James Baillie.

Taylor was unlucky again with another effort on 70 minutes, when he headed just wide from a corner.

Curzon nearly made them pay on 73 minutes when Hughes found space by cutting in from the right to hit a shot from the edge of the box that Jonathan Gould just managed to touch over the bar, his only real save of the game.

After that, Curzon were determined to hold on to a point, and there were a couple more flare ups before the final whistle which saw more yellow cards.

Moors: Gould, Hibbs, Brogan, Atkinson, Thackray, Chandler, Ramshaw, Henry, Anderson (Boyes, 76), Tuton (Johnson, 61), Taylor.

Subs not used: Williams, Elliott, Hayes.

Attendance 564.