Match Report: South Shields 0-2 Spennymoor Town

South Shields were defeated 2-0 by Isuzu FA Trophy finalists Spennymoor Town at 1st Cloud Arena on Easter Monday.

Goals by Corey McKeown and ex-Shields loanee Aidan Rutledge gave the travelling Moors support something extra to celebrate, in addition to their recent cup successes. 

Despite the scoreline, it was Shields who almost had the dream start - Paul Blackett surged through on goal within two minutes of the start and Will Jenkins narrowly missed the ball as he slid to try and connect with it.

An acrobatic finish by skipper Robert Briggs saw his effort from a corner go over the bar. 

Tom Allan, just a handful of minutes later, tried his best but his shot at goal was comfortably claimed by Spennymoor ‘keeper, Brad James.

It would be the visitors who would score first, and to their credit it was an exquisite piece of play.

Shields were left vulnerable as the Moors passed it around the box, before Rob Ramshaw fed McKeown, with space and time, to slot it past Kyle Seymour in the 16th minute.

Seymour was called into action almost five minutes later to thwart Ramshaw's powerful strike.

Matty Dolan followed suit with a glancing shot of his own, but his chance went wide.

After the break, it was more the same, and although Shields retained the ball well, they were unable to do very much in front of goal with it - at least in the early stages. 

Very quickly, the Moors broke through and Coleby Shepherd did excellently to clear Junior Mondal’s opportunity off the line.

Momentum did appear to shift in the Mariners’ favour as the second-half went on, and a very tidy piece of play involving Shepherd, Jenkins, Blackett and Mackenzie Heaney almost resulted in a dream goal for Shields’ top goalscorer.

Blackett’s shot just fell wide and it could be argued that the team were so unfortunate not to have scored from it. 

David Carson combined superbly with second-half substitute Dan Ward on the right-hand side, as the latter sent a cross into the six-yard box.

Blackett was at the end of it, but agonisingly for him, he couldn’t make enough contact and Spennymoor managed to clear it out.

Stephenson then tried an audacious shot, from a similar position to that of McKeown when he scored, but this time it went just past the goalmouth. 

The home pressure was ramping up but they couldn’t get the goal they needed to drag them back into the game. 

Things were soon taken out of doubt when Rutledge was brought on for Spennymoor - within a few minutes he had claimed, and received, a penalty after Seymour had brought him down.

The ex-Mariner stepped up confidently and slotted it into the back of the net.

Yesterday's defeat means that Elliott Dickman’s side remain in 17th place in the Vanarama National League North table, with their final game of the season away against Marine coming this Saturday.

South Shields: Seymour, Hughes (Ward 63’), Shepherd, Morse (Broadbent 46’), Smith, Briggs, Heaney, Jenkins, Carson, Allan (Stephenson 58’), Blackett. 

Unused substitutes: Boney, Crossley.

Spennymoor Town: James, Staunton, Beals, Taylor (Simpson 70’), Ramshaw, Mondal (Rutledge 70’), Dyson, Ledger, Shrimpton, McKeown (Hancox 75’), Dolan. 

Unused substitutes: Pollock, Myers.

Goals: McKeown (16’), Rutledge (73’).

Attendance: 2,070.

Image credit: Kev Wilson (@KevWilson19).