Spennymoor 1 Bradford PA 0.

Spennymoor are one step closer to the National League after on loan midfielder Lewis Hawkins scored a superb goal to put them into the play off semi finals at the Brewery Field tonight.

The occasion certainly affected both teams, with very little in the way of entertainment or flowing football, but Hawkins provided a rare moment of brilliance to earn Moors an away semi-final at Brackley on Sunday.

For Moors, it was sweet revenge for two league defeats against Bradford in the regular season, and now they’re two more play off games away from the National League.

Manager Jason Ainsley said; “Lewis scored an absolute worldy goal, he was the only bright spark for most of the game. He came into a winning team earlier in the season, and he’s played in different positions for us. He played on the left side of three, he tried to get on the ball, and he looked sharp. He scored a goal of quality that didn’t fit the game.

“I thought we were poor in the first half. Our decision-making wasn’t very good, we were second to loose balls, and our passing wasn’t the best. I thought Bradford were the better side in the first half, and maybe we were lucky to be still 0-0 at half time.

“I had a go at the players at half time – except for Lewis – and in the second half we were better. We got higher up the pitch and put a real shift in. After we scored, I thought we defended well.

“It wasn’t a very good performance, but at least the fans went home happy. They got us over the line at the end. “ Not surprisingly considering what was at stake, the opening to the game was quite cautious by both teams, but Bradford had a penalty shout turned down on 9 minutes when Moors lost possession just outside the Bradford box, and the speedy Lewis Knight raced 70 yards into the Moors area where he claimed that he was tripped by covering Moors defender Scott Harrison, but the referee waved his appeals away.

Moors’ first opportunity came on 18 minutes when Lewis Hawkins crossed from the right hand side for Glen Taylor about ten yards out, but he couldn’t get his header on target.

The teams then cancelled each other out, with neither side playing much in the way of constructive football.

Bradford had a chance from a corner on 31 minutes that was cleared as far as defender Luca Havern , whose first time volley was turned away for a corner on the six yard line by Hawkins, and then two minutes later Jamie Spencer picked up a lay off from Jake Beesley and struck a low shot that Matthew Gould pushed away down to his right.

Glen Taylor fizzed a free kick a couple of yards wide on 40 minutes, while Knight was a similar distance over the top from a setpiece at the other end just on half time.

Bradford had the first chance of the second half when Beesley picked up a through ball, took on three defenders, but his final shot was tamely deflected into Gould’s hands.

At the other end, Stephen Brogan found space to curl a left foot shot into Charlie Andrew’s hands as the tension mounted.

Ainsley made two subs, Adam Boyes and Jake Hibbs for Jake Thackray and the injured Ryan Hall in an effort to find a breakthrough.

Chances were few and far between. Conor Branson tried a shot on the turn for Bradford on the edge of the area that Gould saved comfortably.

The game badly needed a moment of magic, and it finally arrived on 75 minutes. Lewis Hawkins, on loan from Hartlepool, picked the ball up on the left-hand side about 30 yards out, and curled a delightful right foot shot beyond the outstretched hands of Andrew into the net.

Bradford tried to reply, and in one goalmouth scramble, Taylor, back defending, managed to nick the ball off Beesley as he was about to shoot.

It was nearly two, when the deadly Brogan forced a diving save out of Andrew with a sweetly-hit free kick, and in stoppage time Taylor got away on the end of a Rob Ramshaw pass, but pulled his left foot shot wide.

Spennymoor: Gould, Williams, Brogan, Chandler, Harrison, Curtis, Hall (sub Hibbs 71), Thackray (sub Boyes 54), Taylor, Ramshaw, Hawkins.

Subs not used: Elliott, Anderson, Johnson.

Bradford: Andrew, Ross, Lowe, East (sub Nowakowski 79), Havern, Spencer, Knight, Branson, Beesley, Lewis Potter (sub Johnson 66), Clee (sub Hurst 88)..

Subs: Toulson, Critchlow-Noble.

Attendance 1509.