Leamington 2 Spennymoor Town 1.

Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley said that his team “weren’t at the races” after they suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at Leamington in the Buildbase FA Trophy on Saturday.

Moors were hoping to go a long way in the competition, but they were beaten on an uninspiring day in Warwickshire, where they must return on Saturday week for a league game.

“The players have been superb over the last couple of months, but they were nowhere near their best on Saturday,” said Ainsley.

“Only two players, James Curtis and Glen Taylor, came out of the game with any credit. Two sloppy goals cost us, the second after we had got back into the game. We had too many players below par, and Leamington had more desire than us. Leamington even had three or four players out, because they were ineligible to play.

“We never created much at all at the other end, it was a poor day all round. Leamington isn’t an easy place to go to, but we never really got going. We played some good football in front of their defence and some passages of play were good, but we never had enough shots on goal.

“In the first half we got into some good areas, but then made the wrong decisions. We certainly need to react better in our next game.

“At 1-1, I think I’d have snapped your hand off for a replay in midweek because of the way we were playing, but we conceded another terrible goal.

“We’ve had a brilliant run with the plaudits in the last two months, but we have to take defeat on the chin. We let the fans and the club down, because it’s a competition in which we did really well in the league. You can’t afford off days in cup competitions.”

There was just a small crowd at the Phillips 66 stadium when the match kicked off, and it was Leamington’s Jack Edwards who nearly scored the opening goal with a header from a corner.

The Brakes took the lead on 18 minutes when a long throw was chested down for Connor Taylor to fire past Mattie Gould.

And the home side should have gone further ahead when Kaiman Anderson was played in, but he pulled his shot wide.

Moors didn’t really create an opening until just before half time, when James Roberts forced a good save out of Leamington keeper Jake Weaver.

Moors were better at the start of the second half, and went close through Rob Ramshaw, and then later Glen Taylor had a header saved.

They looked as if they might be bringing Leamington back up to the Brewery Field for a replay on Tuesday on 77 minutes when Taylor controlled a long ball, stepped inside a defender, and then fired past the keeper.

But with five minutes left, Leamington got the winner when Edwards stabbed the ball home from a Junior English cross.

Spennymoor: Gould, Hibbs, Mason (sub Johnson 76), Chandler, Buddle, Curtis, Roberts (sub Boyes 72), Henry, Taylor, Ramshaw, McKenna (sub Anderson 57).

Subs: Magnay, Atkinson, Brogan, Ward.