Curzon keep play-off dreams alive

Curzon Ashton moved a step closer to their dream of finishing in the play-off spots on Easter Monday with a hard-fought win over promotion rivals South Shields.

The Nash flew out of the blocks at the Tameside Stadium, taking the lead after just three minutes when Craig Mahon’s cutback found Isaac Sinclair on the edge of the area, whose deflected shot found a way past the despairing goalkeeper.

The early goal seemed to bring visitors South Shields to life, who began to dominate the game from then on.

The away side came close to levelling the scoring after a quarter of an hour when midfielder Martin Smith’s long-range effort was tipped onto the bar superbly by the in-form Josh Ollerenshaw.

After sustaining a huge amount of pressure from their opponents, hosts Curzon managed to fashion a chance of their own just before the half-hour mark when Isaac Sinclair clipped a perfectly weighted ball to the back post which was begging to be nodded in by the onrushing Stefan Mols, but the Spaniard could only steer his header wide and waste what was a golden opportunity.

They were almost made to pay for this miss immediately after when Josh Ollerenshaw was forced into a fantastic save down to his left to keep out a header from forward Aaron Martin.

The shot-stopper was back in action again moments later, producing a flying save to tip Jordan Hunter’s driven effort onto the upright.

An inspired first-half performance from their goalkeeper saw Curzon go into half-time leading.

This lead was then doubled early in the second half when Jimmy Spencer’s ball across was turned in by Isaac Sinclair who swept home his second of the afternoon to put his side in control.

A determined defensive display then saw The Nash see the game out and record their third win in as many games.

The victory sees Craig Mahon’s side leapfrog the men from the north east and move into the play-off spots with just three games to go.

 Up next this weekend is yet another six-pointer which sees Curzon travel to Alfreton Town, who are one place above them in the table.