Dale Eve’s Spennymoor Town suffered late heartache after going down to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat away to Brackley Town in Vanarama National League North yesterday.

Spennymoor, who were aiming to win back-to-back games after Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Curzon Ashton, dominated much of the opening 45 minutes without finding a breakthrough.

The hosts gained a foothold in the match after the interval with Bermuda goalkeeper Eve throwing himself bravely at the feet of Lee Ndlovu, who was attempting a spectacular overhead kick.

Eve was again in the thick of the action with ten minutes remaining as he and team-mate Carl Magnay collided in a challenge with Brackley forward Matt Lowe, with the trio contesting a long ball over the Spennymoor defence.

In the aftermath, Lowe rolled the ball into the empty net, but the officials called play back for a foul in the lead-up to the collision.

However, with full time and a fourth straight goalless draw between the teams looming, a cross into the area was only partially cleared as far as Lowe, who made no mistake rifling an effort past the helpless Eve to snatch victory.

Meanwhile, compatriot Milan Butterfield was again omitted from the Chesterfield squad who secured a narrow 1-0 victory away to second-placed Sutton United in the National League.

It was the fourth successive game that the midfielder has not been involved in Chesterfield’s matchday squad and third since the arrival of new manager James Rowe, who replaced John Pemberton at the end of November.

Butterfield, who has featured eight times in total for the club since signing from Kidderminster Harriers in August, may now face an uphill task to regain his place with Rowe adding three new midfielders to his ranks since taking the role.

Last week Jak McCourt and Tom Whelan signed before the 0-0 draw with Aldershot Town, while George Carline’s arrival was confirmed before yesterday’s trip to Sutton.

When previously asked if improving the midfield was a priority, Rowe, who has hinted that some of his squad could be heading out on loan, spoke of a need to bolster his options in that area,

“With Milan Butterfield we only had three central midfielders and we need more than that because I am going to play with a three in there whether we play 4-3-3 or 3-4-3,” he told the Derbyshire Times.

“I always want to overload that middle area so we need more midfielders and those two [McCourt and Whelan] fit the bill and are raring to go.”