It was yet another league away defeat for the Avenue as they fell 3-0 to Spennymoor Town on a bitterly disappointing Saturday afternoon in County Durham.
In a game in which the hosts dominated possession, the Avenue knew that when the chances came, they had to take them but unfortunately that wasn’t the case as they were unable to find their clincial nature when they needed it the most.
It was a quiet beginning to the game, the home side had the majority of the possession but didn’t really show much attacking intent as Avenue defended well. A couple of decent chances fell Avenue’s way before Spennymoor opened the scoring, the most notable chances coming for Tom Clare and Isaac Marriott.
Clare’s opportunity came just after the 20 minute mark – some sublime play down the left from Oli Johnson allowed to him to find Nicky Clee in space who’s cross into the box met the head of Clare who outleaped the Spennymore defence, but his header was saved by Gould, who enjoyed a fine afternoon in net for the hosts.
Almost instantly after that chance, though, Spennymoor had one of their own. Earing found space and ran into the Avenue half, and his through ball to Ramshaw allowed Ramshaw to get a strike off on goal which hit the bar.
A couple of early subs were then forced for Mark Bower’s side with Adam Nowakowski, making his 100th appearance for the Avenue, substituted off after just half an hour, and he was shortly followed by Mitch Lund with both men leaving with suspected injuries.
Spennymoor took the lead in the 33rd minute through Ramshaw, who was played through on goal and calmly slotted past Avenue debutant Nicholson.
Coming out of half time, Avenue’s performance improved as they enjoyed more of the possession, but that possession didn’t translate to too many chances – the best one falling to Tom Clare, who shot just wide after doing well to create himself some space just inside the Spennymoor box.
Despite Avenue being the better team in the second half, it was Spennymoor who scored the crucial second goal of the game through Mark Anderson, who then also made it 3-0 with a wonderful half volley from 25 yards out which capped off an unfortunate afternoon for Bradford.
Magnay was given his marching orders by the ref deep into stoppage time after receiving his second yellow of the game, but it was too little too late for the Avenue who now face the difficult task of playing York City on Boxing Day.