Spennymoor progressed to the next round of the Emirates FA Cup following an eventful season opener at Bradford (Park Avenue).

The home side began the brighter during a tense opening exchange, with the lively Lewis Knight seeing one effort blocked and one slide past the post.

In torrential conditions, Moors had to wait until the twenty minute mark to carve out an opening, with Mark Anderson seeing his goal bound effort tipped behind via the boot of Avenue goalkeeper Dan Atkinson.

That spurred Moors into action and tidy build up down the right through debutant Stephen Thompson, Rob Ramshaw and Glen Taylor almost resulted in a tap-in for Jason Kennedy, but the dangerous cross was cleared.

Despite growing in dominance, it was Bradford who took the lead just after the half hour mark.

A loose pass from Mark Anderson allowed former Moors midfielder Jake Hibbs to advance before sliding a pass through the Knight.

Avenue’s striker kept his composure and slid the ball past Dale Eve to leave Spennymoor with work to do.

Moors were given the chance to equalise a minute before the interval when Kennedy was brought down in the area, but Taylor blazed the resulting spot-kick over the bar.

Jason Ainsley acted at the break, replacing Adam Blakeman with Jamie Spencer, with that alteration resulting in Kennedy moving to right back and Tyler Forbes switching to the left.

That change almost reaped immediate rewards when Nathan Buddle struck from eight yards, but his goal bound effort was superbly saved by Dan Atkinson.

Spennymoor had another chance from the penalty spot just before the hour when half time substitute Spencer was brought down following a marvellous goal line clearance from Luca Havern, denying Taylor’s superb header.

It was Taylor who stepped up again to try and get Moors level, but this time Atkinson guessed the right way to deny the striker.

The pressure continued to build on the Avenue defence as Moors drove forward in search of a deserved equaliser, with Anderson seeing two well struck efforts from distance narrowly evading the post and bar.

Bradford (Park Avenue)’s resistance was finally broken twelve minutes from time and it was Taylor, who had to shrug off the disappointment of wasting two penalties, who powered a header in at the back post to showcase his quality and character.

The man who took the corner, Thompson, was the hero a minute later as Moors reaped the rewards for a much improved second half display.

Ben McKenna was the architect, driving down the right hand side with speed and purpose, before sliding the ball across to Thompson who finished low past Atkinson.

There was still time for Moors to win a third penalty of the afternoon after Taylor was brought down in the area, and, after discussion with Anderson, it was the striker who tried to convert his third attempt.

In typical Taylor fashion, he powerfully struck the spot kick into the corner, sealing his second of the game and securing passage to the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.