Niall Short scored in injury time as Moors earned a 2-2 draw in their latest friendly outing as a determined Thornaby performance gave them a welcome test at Teesdale Park on Tuesday.
The young defender powered home a header to secure a much-deserved result for Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley’s side who had completely dominated during a relentless second half display.
It was Moors who got on the front foot first in the game with Joe Wheatley and Jordan Thewlis both coming close in the opening stages before Mark Anderson rolled another effort inches wide.
Danny Greenfield – on as an early substitute for the injured Jordan Preston – put Moors in front on 23 minutes when he tenaciously charged down an attempted Thornaby clearance and it flew beyond the helpless keeper and into the bottom corner for 1-0.
However, the lead was short-lived. Just after the half-hour mark, the hosts grabbed a leveller when a beautifully weighted pass was lifted into the path of front man Steven Roberts, and he did well to prod beyond Max Metcalf as he raced from his line in an attempt to close down the angle.
It got even better for the home side just before the break when a left-wing corner was met powerfully by defender James Frazer and his close-range header gave Metcalf no chance as Thornaby went in 2-1 up at half time.
Moors forced their hosts on to the back foot from the first whistle in the second half and Scott Duxbury was twice denied by keeper Matty Wilkinson who proved to be in inspired form.
Joe Cummings hit the crossbar and Anderson drew another save from Wilkinson before Metcalf was forced into a tidy double save at the other end and then Thewlis fired just off-target.
Thewlis again came close midway through the second half before a trialist substitute came on and almost made an immediate impact only for his low shot to stay out via a combination of goalkeeper and post.
Ramshaw saw a curling shot pushed over the bar and Joe Tait headed the resultant corner wide, while another set piece on 84 minutes somehow stayed out despite it bouncing around on the line and striking the post before being fired over the bar.
Wilkinson made his best save of the night on 89 minutes when Anderson’s 25-yard effort took a deflection and looked to have wrong-footed the keeper before he managed to swivel back across his goal to turn the ball round the post.
However, Moors finally got their equaliser deep into injury time when a delivery from the left was met by substitute Short and his point-blank header found a way past Wilkinson.
Full Time: Thornaby 2 Spennymoor Town 2
Spennymoor Town: Metcalf (Flatters 70), Duxbury, Cummings (Short 87), Wheatley, Ramshaw, Anderson, Oyibo, Preston, Tait, Thewlis (Lufudu 70), Trialist (Trialist).
Subs not used: Trialist.
