Brackley 4 Spennymoor Town 1.

Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley was fuming after Moors’ four game winning run was ended at Brackley on Saturday.

Moors had defender James Curtis harshly dismissed for two yellow cards in the space of three minutes at a crucial stage of the game, and they never recovered.

Ainsley was less than happy with the referee’s decision to dismiss the former Gateshead defender and said; “For the first one, I thought the referee booked him for nothing, but unfortunately for the second one James has put the referee into a position in which he’s had to make a decision. I thought the referee had a nightmare for both teams.

“The game changed when we went down to ten men, but regardless of being a man down, we still conceded some poor goals in the second half. But I can’t grumble too much with our lads because they’d played very well to put us into third place in the table.

“I thought one of their lads should have been sent off for a foul on Gouldy, our keeper has got stud marks on his shoulder.”

Ainsley said before the game that he viewed the visit to Brackley as a yardstick. “I thought we were more than a match for them when it was 11 v 11.

“Last season when we lost at Brackley, we didn’t really get a kick of the ball and we lost 2-0.

“This time, we saw a lot more of the ball, and certainly caused Brackley problems in the first half. We scored from a great move, and we had a couple of good chances in the next few minutes. For the first 20/25 minutes we knocked the ball about really well.

“Brackley is a tough place to go to at the best of times, but I was baffled by some of the referee’s decisions for both sides. The supporters drove 250 miles to see a game, but the game was gone when James was sent off.”

Moors started the game well, and took the lead after 11 minutes.

Last week’s matchwinner against Ashton United, Mark Anderson, pounced on a poor clearance by the Brackley defence from a Glen Taylor header to put Moors into the lead, and at that point it looked as if Moors might get another victory on the back of their 5-0 home win over Ashton United last week.

But the FA Trophy winners levelled three minutes later, when Daniel Nti’s header dropped nicely for Connor Hall to beat Jonathan Gould in the Moors goal.

Moors though quickly returned to the attack, and Rob Ramshaw had an effort cleared off the line, and Anderson went close with a free kick.

Then in the space of a few minutes, the game started to go against Moors.

Brackley were awarded a penalty for a foul by midfielder Shane Henry on Brackley’s Gareth Dean in the box before a corner was taken, but Gould pulled off an excellent save from Jimmy Armson’s spot kick.

Curtis was then shown a yellow for an innocuous clash with Brackley striker Adam Walker on the half hour which many from Moors couldn’t understand and then two minutes later he received his second yellow for a late challenge.

Ainsley then had to reshuffle, and while Moors tried to regain their composure, Gould pulled off an excellent save from Nti.

The keeper produced another good stop just after half time when he denied Shane Byrne, then full back Jake Hibbs stopped Shepherd Murombedizi’s header on the line.

But Brackley took the lead on 52 minutes with a well-placed shot by Armson from a left wing cross, then Glenn Walker nearly made it 3-1 but was denied by the post.

Gould pulled off another great stop from Armson, but he had no chance on 72 minutes when Shaun Jeffers set up Nti to fire home.

And Moors were caught on the break on 88 minutes when Armson fired home from Matt Lowe’s cross.

Team: Gould, Hibbs, Curtis, Thackray, Brogan (sub Hall 54), Chandler, Ramshaw, Henry, Tuton (sub Atkinson 35), Anderson (sub Johnson 76), Taylor.

Subs not used: Elliott, Boyes In the EvoStik Premier, South Shields maintained their 100 per cent home record and go sixth after they beat Gainsborough 1-0 at Mariners’ Park, while Whitby are ninth after beating Mickleover 4-0 at the Turnbull Ground.

In the EvoStik League East, Marske are second after a goal by Matty Waters gave them victory over Stockbridge, while Morpeth are top after easily beating Gresley 5-1.