Moors Academy side produced a spirited display but ended up losing by the odd goal in nine at the end of a thriller against league-leaders Wath Academy on Wednesday.

Matty Dolan’s youngsters made the long trip to face Wath hoping to produce a positive response following last week’s 3-1 defeat the hands of Middlesbrough.

And Moors were almost in front during the early stages when Leighton Hope burst through on goal but couldn’t quite find a way past the Wath goalkeeper.

The hosts got themselves on top and took the lead on 10 minutes when they fired home from a well-worked set-piece.

However, Moors reacted quickly and were back on level terms after some great work from Hayden Oakes saw the ball laid into the patch of Hope to fire into the net.

Disappointingly, Moors lost their concentration from the restart and that allowed the home side to score twice in quick succession. The first was a well-worked team goal before they made it 3-1 with a penalty.

It was a glimpse of what Wath are sitting top of the table. Moors showed great resilience though, and they pulled a goal back through a wonderful solo effort from Ethan Docherty who rolled his defender and lashed a superb left-footed shot into the top corner from 25 yards.

Then, right on half time, there were further celebrations for Moors as Archie Dodds sent a fantastic free kick over the wall into the top corner to make it 3-3 as the teams went in at the break.

Wath came out strongly at the start of the second half and went back in front after another neat passage of play and a brilliant finish from the edge of the box past Moors keeper James Brown who had no chance.

The hosts then reinstated their two-goal lead midway through the second half and looked on course for a comfortable three points at that stage.

However, Moors came back fighting again and pulled a goal back when Josh Lynch fired home an excellent strike from 25 yards right into the top corner of the net.

That set up an exciting and tense final 10 minutes and Moors could even have grabbed a levelled in the dying moments but a fine save from the Wath keeper denied Docherty his second goal of the afternoon.

“The lads showed really good character today against a strong team with an excellent set-up,” said Dolan afterwards.

“You would like to think that if you score four goals away from home that you would be on the right side of the result, but it was a really entertaining game.

“There were some really encouraging bits of individual quality shown and hopefully the boys can take the positives out of it and have enjoyed challenging themselves against a really good side.”

Full Time: Wath Academy 5 Moors 4

Moors: Brown, Jones (Robertson 65), Lynch, Stapleton (Saine 80), K Dodds, Neely, Oakes (Fulton 50), A Dodds, Docherty, Griffiths, Hope.