Spennymoor Town 1, Stourbridge 0

STOURBRIDGE suffered promotion heartbreak after defeat against Spennymoor Town in the Northern Premier League play-off final.

Robert Ramshaw's first half strike was enough to win it for a dominant home side.

The Glassboys have keeper Matt Gould to thank after his string of fine saves kept them in the tie to the dying moments.

They could have even bagged a late leveller with two big chances deep into injury time but it wasn't to be after a long season for Gary Hackett's men.

It was Spennymoor that were quicker on the front foot and were soon keeping the Glassboys pegged back.

Forward Glen Taylor was at the heart of everything they did and he soon chalked up three quick-fire efforts approaching the 20 minute mark.

He drilled wide on 18 minutes before forcing Glassboys keeper Matt Gould to push an effort past his post and tip another over his bar moments later.

Stour struggled to keep hold of the ball and were soon under siege as they failed to get their forward players into the game.

The goal eventually arrived on 29 minutes when Robert Ramshaw fired home with his left foot after a neat ball to play him in. He let the ball drift across his body before giving Gould no chance with his finish despite big appeals from the Stour players for handball as he controlled.

Stour appealed for handball in the build up but the ref was unmoved.

The only positive for the Glassboys was that they were only one behind at the break after failing to muster any sort of effort at goal.

They needed a big reaction in the second half to keep their promotion dream alive but it never really arrived until too late.

Luke Benbow fired over straight from kick-off to signal the visitors intent in the second half but they could never really keep the pressure on.

Benbow's acrobatic effort on 50 minutes and Tonks' lofted effort moments later still didn't trouble Moors keeper Dan Lowson.

In contrast, the home side continued to keep Gould busy without putting the game out of sight.

Twice Gould denied Taylor again. First tipping over a header on 78 minutes and then clawing away another powerful header from point blank range ten minutes from time.

They were nearly made to rue those misses when Benbow lined up a free kick as the clock ticked into injury time.

He beat the wall with a dipping effort but somehow Lowson managed to tip the ball away with a great save.

He then pushed away Kennedy Digie's poked effort soon after as Stour tried in vain to salvage their promotion dream.

But it wasn't to be and, after another historic season as far as the FA Cup is concerned, Stour will have to face another campaign in the Northern Premier League.

Spennymoor: Lowton, Griffiths, Mason (c), Chandler, Tait, Curtis, Ramshaw, Henry, Taylor, Armstrong (Dowson 62) Johnson (Anderson 86) Unused Subs: Baldwin, Watson, Fisher.

Stourbridge: Gould, Preston (Jones 59), Westlake, Tonks (c), Digie, Pierpoint, Dodd (Canavan 84), Broadhurst, Benbow, Brown (Birch 79), Archer.

Unused Subs: Green, Jeavons.

Att: 1,699.