Taylor’s late winner ends Saints’ long unbeaten run

Saints lost 2-1 in Saturday’s game, made to pay for some poor finishing at fourth-placed Spennymoor where Glen Taylor’s 23rd league goal of the season took his side joint third with Kevin Wilkin’s boys. Ryan Hall had earlier given Spennymoor the first half lead which Shane Byrne cancelled out from the penalty spot only for Taylor to win it late on.

Saints began well and top scorer Lee Ndlovu turned inside to make space but was denied by Matt Gould. Moors struggled to carve out clear cut chances in the first half but they broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute when Rob Ramshaw and Taylor combined for Hall to apply the final touch.

But Gould presented Saints with their equaliser two minutes later when he fouled Ndlovu who got their just ahead of the Moors keeper to the ball and Byrne converted the ensuing spot-kick. Saints almost snatched the interval lead when Shep Murombedzi’s speculative shot from distance in added-time was not gathered cleanly by Gould.

Saints looked as though they would at least come away with a point in the second half but they failed to build on their first half display.

Saints missed several good chances, the best falling to Ndlovu who raced on to a long clearance from Danny Lewis but allowed Rob Atkinson to clear before he could pull the trigger. Matt Gould also did well to block Ndlovu’s goal bound effort while Ellis Myles and Luke Fairlamb had shots blocked when well placed and Matt Lowe’s effort was deflected wide.

But it was Spennymoor who took all three points in the 76th minute when Mark Anderson created the opening for Taylor to beat Lewis.