Lancaster City 0-5 Spennymoor Town

The game started with City on top with the home side dominating the first 15 minutes.

Rob Wilson caused the visitors early problems with some excellent crosses into the box from the right-hand side.

City made the Spennymoor Town goalkeeper work early on, with Matty Blinkhorn going close a good header.

The first major chance came on the 11th minute when Wilson played in a lovely ball from the right which found the captain Simon Wills on the edge of the box but he got his shot all wrong and it flew over the bar.

Within minutes, Spennymoor took the lead.

In the 15th minute, Spennymoor played a long ball forward from a goal kick which looked like it was going to fall straight to Sam Ashton in the Blues’ goal.

However, after a little miscommunication at the back, Andrew Johnson got in between Lewis Fensome and Ashton to poke the ball home into an empty net.

As with the first, the visitors scored again following some good pressure from the Dolly Blues.

Spennymoor took a quick throw-in on the left-hand side to which City were very slow to respond.

The ball found its way into the box where James Roberts was able to curl an effort into the bottom right corner after what looked like a slight deflection on the way through.

City looked to get back into the game when Charlie Bailey did well on the edge of the box to get a shot off, which was deflected into the path of Blinkhorn but the striker couldn’t connect with the ball, although the assistant referee’s flag had gone up on the near side for offside anyway.

City continued to apply pressure to Spennymoor with another huge chance, this time falling to Jack Armer.

The left back had made his way up the pitch and the ball fell to him on the edge of the box, however he got his shot all wrong and it flew over the bar.

This was the last of the major action in the first half, with City going into the break 2-0 down and looking to improve for the second half.

Manager Mark Fell made two changes to the side at the break, replacing Fensome and Wills with Sam Bailey and Niall Cowperthwaite.

The visitors piled on the pressure straight away in the second half, but City had the best chance in the early stages when a lovely move in the 53rd minute saw Blinkhorn dummy the ball, allowing it to run through to the onrushing Jason Walker, but the number 10 was adjudged to be offside.

A defensive miscommunication followed for Spennymoor, with two defenders not dealing with a loose ball in the box. Blinkhorn got to it quickly and managed to prod it into the middle as he went down, but Gould was quick off his line to reach it just before Walker could convert.

However, after the huge let off for the visitors, the ball was played forward and fell to Roberts in the box, who got a weak shot away towards the bottom corner well but Ashton pushed it wide of the post.

The visitors were not looking to settle in this game, bringing on Glen Taylor for Adam Boyes and this change would be devastating for City, as the returning Taylor would make it three from the penalty spot.

The penalty came after a clumsy challenge from Ben Hudson gave Spennymoor the chance from 12 yards, which Taylor converted into the bottom left corner past a stretching Ashton.

After the third goal the pressure continued from the visitors, who looked to kill the game off with Taylor being granted another huge chance a minute after his goal from the spot.

Two minutes later Taylor did have the ball in the back of the City net, getting his second and Spennymoor’s fourth of the game.

City’s final substitute was a major one as Jason Walker was replaced by Max Smith.

Smith was making the transition from the youth academy into the first team and it was a great moment to take away from the day.

With the game looking over, the visitors did not want to let up and their pressure paid off just before full time as another substitute, Mark Anderson, slotted home into the bottom left corner to seal a 5-0 victory for Spennymoor Town and guarantee their place in the next round of the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup.

Next up for the Dolly Blues is a trip to Squires Gate in the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy on Tuesday, September 24, kick off 7:45pm.