Nuneaton 0 Spennymoor 2.

Spennymoor’s patience paid dividends when two goals in the last 13 minutes gave them three valuable points at Liberty Way.

The league’s bottom club made themselves hard to break down and fought all the way through the ninety minutes, but the reliable Glen Taylor opened them up with his 25th goal of the season, with Mark Anderson making sure of the points.

Moors’ eighth away win of the season kept them firmly in third place, seven points inside the play off positions, and they reduced the deficit on leaders Chorley to seven points with two games in hand because they lost at Alfreton.

Moors’ manager Jason Ainsley was pleased that his team’s perseverance carried them through.

“Nuneaton had ten players behind the ball for most of the game,” he said.

“They just let us have the ball, and made it hard for us to break them down. In the first half, I thought our passing wasn’t very good, and made too many wrong decisions. But in the second half, that part of our game and improved, and we stretched them more.

“I was pleased that we had worked on setpieces in training on Thursday because Glen scored from one, and then Mark Anderson finished well for the second.

“It was always going to be a difficult game, because Nuneaton had nothing to lose, they worked hard and were well-organised. And the longer the score was 0-0, the more confident they became and there was always a risk that they might break away and score one.

“I told our players that they would have to be patient, and they were. Those points are very important, because we have some massively tough games coming up over the rest of the season.”

Moors didn’t make much headway against a packed Nuneaton defence until midway through the first half when Liam Agnew had a shot blocked, then Rob Ramshaw had a shot from the edge of the box well saved by Nuneaton keeper Cameron Belford.

Nuneaton though always looked for a chance on the break, and Moors keeper Mattie Gould pulled off a good save from Ryan Edmunds.

Stephen Brogan curled a free kick wide as Moors continued to be frustrated heading into half time.

There was some room for optimism at the start of the second half when Agnew had a shot deflected wide, then Taylor had a shot blocked.

They had their beat chance of the game just before the hour when Anderson cleverly set up Andrew Johnson, whose effort was well saved by Belford.

There was a huge controversy on 63 minutes through when Ramshaw seemed to be fouled as he ran into the box, but instead the referee booked him for diving.

Johnson was denied again by Belford before the breakthrough finally arrived on 77 minutes, when Brogan curled a corner in from the right for Taylor to head powerfully into the top corner.

And eight minutes later, Anderson fired home a lay off by Taylor to send the Moors’ contingent wild.

Moors now face a tough midweek away game at seventh-placed Altrincham, with whom they drew 4-4 earlier in the season at the Brewery Field.

Spennymoor: Gould, Williams, Brogan, Chandler, Harrison, Curtis, Anderson, Agnew (sub Boyes 65), Taylor (sub Henry 90), Ramshaw, Johnson (sub Hall 79) In the EvoStik League Premier Division, a near 2000 crowd saw South Shields lose their unbeaten home record to Warrington, while Whitby beat Grantham 2-1.

In the EvoStik League East, Morpeth beat Sheffield 2-0 and Marske drew 1-1 with Pontefract.