Curzon Ashton 3 Chorley 0: Magpies come unstuck in Tameside
Chorley fell to a deflating defeat on the road at fellow promotion hopefuls Curzon Ashton on Tuesday night, Alex Curran and Jimmy Spencer – twice – on the scoresheet for the hosts.
Defeat was a bitter blow for Chorley, who saw the hosts leapfrog them in the table, having played two games fewer, with the Magpies now in sixth spot.
It was the visitors who had a keen eye for goal in the early part of the game – Adam Blakeman with a sighter for Bobby Jones to deal with before Tom Carr headed over from a Warren Clarke cross.
Despite their positive play, Chorley found themselves a goal behind against the run of play after 18 minutes, Curran turning on a sixpence quite brilliantly before slotting the ball past keeper Matt Urwin.
Chorley looked to respond quickly and did so, Mark Ellis fizzing a powerful volley off the crossbar following a corner.
With half-an-hour on the clock, the Magpies came knocking again, this time Kole Hall firing an effort against the post.
However, Andy Preece’s side had Urwin to thank once more before the break as a superb stop denied Curran his and Curzon’s second goal of the night.
Chorley continued to press for the equaliser and saw the return of Billy Whitehouse among others from the substitutes bench.
But, despite the changes, they struggled to test Jones with efforts largely coming from distance and heading over or wide.
Adam Henley prevented an all-but-certain goal from Isaac Buckley-Ricketts with some heroic defending on 81 minutes, before Dubem Eze flashed an effort past the far post at the other end.
With less than five minutes to go, Spencer settled the contest with a deft lob over Urwin after Chorley had left bodies forward.
Spencer then added insult to injury in the sixth minute of added time, another gorgeous finish to find the top corner ending proceedings at 3-0 in favour of Craig Mahon’s side.
Up next is the long trip to Needham Market this weekend.
CHORLEY: Urwin, Henley (Moore 83), McGhee, Ellis, Blakeman (Whitehouse 66), Horbury (Eze 71), Calveley, Clarke, Montgomery, Hall (Touray 74), Carr. Sub (not used): Wilson