Spennymoor Town 2 Nantwich Town 0

NANTWICH Town saw their dreams of promotion come to an end with a play-off defeat on Tuesday night.

Their fifth-place finish secured them a play-off berth for the first time in eight seasons, but a trip to Spennymoor proved too difficult a task.

Second-half goals from Kallum Griffiths and Andrew Johnson ended the Dabbers’ hopes of a first ever promotion to the National League North.

Manager Phil Parkinson missed the game due to work commitments, so assistant Neil Sorvel took charge as Nantwich made the long midweek trip to the north east.

The hosts started brightly, with Graeme Armstrong forcing a save from Dabbers keeper Dan Gyollai.

Griffiths curled a free kick just wide of the post as Spennymoor took the game to the Dabbers, with Sam Hall firing over from the edge of the area for the visitors as the first half ended scoreless.

The freezing temperatures and driving rain made free-flowing football difficult as Ben Harrison headed a corner just wide for Nantwich.

With the game moving into its final quarter, Spennymoor took the lead when Griffiths spotted a gap in the wall to fire a free kick low beyond the reach of Gyollai.

Sorvel tried to force the issue by bringing on Joe Mwasile and Ryan Brooke, but the hosts doubled their lead with 10 minutes to go.

After winning the ball back inside the Dabbers half, Johnson cut inside from the left and his low effort from the edge of the area found the bottom corner.

It was a hammer blow to Nantwich and they could have fallen further behind, but Gyollai made a smart save to deny David Dowson.

Spennymoor saw out the game to advance to a play-off final with Stourbridge and end the Dabbers’ hopes for another season.