Spennymoor Town 1 Chorley 2: Late goal moves Magpies to the summit
A late goal secured victory for Chorley on Saturday and propelled them to the top of National League North.
Both sides looked to settle into the game before Chorley took the lead on 22 minutes.
Set-piece pressure from Mark Ellis and Mike Calveley ended with Michael Ledger heading into his own net after a mix-up with goalkeeper Brad James.
Minutes later, Warren Clarke was inches away from doubling Chorley’s lead.
Put in one-on-one following a fantastic pass from Momodou Touray, he fired a curling effort just wide.
The Magpies continued to knock on the door for the rest of the first half with Adam Henley, Calveley and Dubem Eze all squandering opportunities.
However, an injury meant that centre-back Ellis had to be replaced by Scott Wilson at the break.
Unsurprisingly, Spennymoor came out fighting after the restart and, following a sustained period of pressure, grabbed the equaliser through Matty Dolan.
The game began to swing in the hosts’ favour, Matt Urwin with a fantastic save to deny Will Harris from close range before Henley defended resolutely to deny Rob Ramshaw.
As the game began to edge towards its climax, Chorley won themselves an 86th-minute corner.
The set piece was taken by Adam Blakeman and met with a bullet header from Calveley, securing the win for the Magpies.
It also saw Chorley end their opposition’s 18-game unbeaten home record and avenge their recent FA Cup defeat on the same ground.
Chorley: Urwin, Henley, Smith, Ellis (Wilson 46), Blakeman, Clarke, Horbury, Calveley, Eze (Carr 83), Hewitt (Moore 75), Touray.