Farsley Celtic 1 Spennymoor Town 0.

Spennymoor were beaten by a late goal at Farsley on Saturday – and assistant manager Tommy Miller is now targeting a return to form against league leaders York City this Saturday.

Just like last season, Moors have started slowly, and they have picked up just one point from their three away games against Hereford, Guiseley and Farsley.

But Miller says that there’s no need to press the panic button as Moors look forward to playing on their Brewery Field pitch which has been refurbished during the summer and will be in a better condition than Farsley’s was on Saturday.

Moors felt that the grass was too long and there were some ruts in places, but Miller, who was in charge because manager Jason Ainsley was away on family business, pointed out; “Farsley play to their strengths – they’re physical and like to play route one.

“Their keeper made some good saves in the first half when we had a lot of the ball. I thought we were the better team, and that we would be the first to score.

“Farsley put a lot of balls into our box, and I thought that we’d seen them out, but they beat us with one near the end. Their pitch is like that for a reason, not many teams will come away from there with three points this season.

“But Farsley are no mugs, they’ve proved that this season by drawing at York, who are now top of the table.

“We’ve had a disappointing start to the season, and there are no excuses for the goals that we’ve conceded; we haven’t got a right to win.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re not pressing the panic button. The start of the season has been a bit stop-start because of the two postponed home games. We’ve only played three games, and we’ll be looking for a real bounceback in our first home game of the season against York this Saturday.”

Moors discovered, just like Darlington, that Farsley’s pitch isn’t conducive to flowing football, and more suited to the long high ball.

There weren’t many goalmouth incidents in the game, which might have been a bit different if former Darlington player Dave Syers hadn’t put a good chance over the top in the opening minutes.

Moors then had more possession without really troubling Farsley keeper Elliott Wynne, but they nearly went behind again when Jordan Richards crossed for Syers to have a close-range shot blocked by keeper Mattie Gould.

Moors had their first real chance just after the half hour mark when Andrew Johnson played a one-two with Glen Taylor, but his final shot was deflected wide.

Gould came to Moors’ rescue again though when he made a great save from a Danny Ellis volley from a corner.

Moors still had chances in the second half and nearly took the lead on the hour when Ben McKenna sent Taylor racing through, but he dragged his right foot shot wide.

They had another chance soon after Johnson crossed for McKenna, who had space at the far post, but he headed wide of the target.

But Farsley still looked dangerous, and Gould pulled off a good save from Ben Atkinson, and then recovered quickly to block the follow up from Nathan Cartman.

Moors looked as if they were building up for a big finish when Taylor and then Johnson both went close, but they were caught with three minutes left when Will Hayhurst crossed for Ben Atkinson to head past Gould.

Team: Gould, Magnay, Brogan, Chandler, Buddle, Curtis, McKenna (sub Anderson 75), Henry, Taylor, Roberts (sub Ward 59), Johnson.

Subs not used: Williams, Atkinson, Boyes.

In the Betvictor NPL, South Shields had new signing Jason Gilchrist sent off in their first game at Radcliffe, but they still won with a Robbie Briggs goal.

Newly promoted Morpeth had a great start, winning 3-1 at last season’s play off finalists Warrington, while Whitby drew 1-1 at home to Witton Albion.

In the newly created North and West Division, Marske beat City of Liverpool 1-0, while newly promoted Dunston drew 1-1 at Marine.