AN injury time winner from James Moxon saw Newton Abbot Spurs snatch all three points against Ivybridge Town at The Rec on Tuesday night.

After Mitch Williams had cancelled out Harry Ford’s early opener for the hosts, it looked as though the two Peninsula Premier East high-fliers were heading a draw.

But Spurs top scorer Moxon popped up deep into injury time to poke home substitute Callum Noyce’s clever cross and keep the points in Newton Abbot.

The deadlock was broken after just five minutes when Moxon broke away down the right-hand side and cut back to the returning Ford – who smartly finished between the legs of visiting keeper Kane Gregory.

Marc Revell’s side kept up the momentum and came close to adding to their lead numerous times as the half progressed.

First skipper Lewis Breslan had a header from a corner palmed away by Gregory, then Gav Collins found Ford again whose shot was blocked.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the game was then disrupted by two lengthy stoppages for nasty looking injuries to forward Owen Raven and defender Dave Youldon.

But this appeared to spur the Ivies on after the break, and it wasn’t long before they were back on level terms.

Brad Crocombe gave away a cheap free-kick in midfield, which keeper Joel Hawker-Patchett could only parry straight to the onrushing Williams.

Substitute CJ Pritchard was inches away from connecting with a deep cross and completing the comeback, but the travelling side’s best chance for another goal came with 10 minutes to go.

Youngster Jacob Bowker took advantage of a moment of disorganisation in the Spurs’ back line to race in behind, but could only fire a shot straight at a retreating defender.

That would be the last real contribution from the lively Bowker, who would also be forced to hobble off with yet another injury in the away ranks.

Spurs had by now introduced fresh legs in the forms of Noyce and Tom Johns, who both played big parts as the Spurs mounted a late charge.

Noyce flashed just wide of the far post with two minutes of the 90 remaining, but there was still time for another twist in added time.

The former Ashburton attacker found space to dig out a low Rabona cross in the fourth minute of added time – which Will Hancox missed and Moxon gobbled up.

Revell’s men were hammered 4-0 by the Ivies in the reverse match on the second weekend of the season – so the Spurs boss was pleased to see some progress has been made since then.

‘Like I’ve said before, this was a bit of a benchmark to see how far we’ve come since the 4-0,’ said Revell. ‘I think in the early weeks of the season the belief just wasn’t there.

‘Going there off the back of a 5-0 defeat at Axminster, the lads only needed to concede one for their heads to drop. We were actually the better side down there for the first 20 minutes or so.

‘We’ve come so far from then, and that’s just down to us eradicating that naivety that they showed in that game. We definitely didn’t show as much of that tonight.’

Despite Ivybridge dominating for large periods, Revell believed his side’s final push made them deserved winners.

‘You’d finish that game with a draw quite happily,’ Revell admitted. ‘We did ourselves out of fully deserving a win because for the first half an hour we played really well until the stoppage, which sort of killed us a little bit.

‘And then for the first half an hour of the second half I think Ivybridge probably deserved something out of it.

‘But at the end of the day, if a game is that even and one team pushes and snatches it then that team deserves the win. I’ve been on the other end of it enough times, so I’ll take it as a deserved win.’

There was also specific praise for Noyce and Johns, players who have featured for the reserves this season and stepped up to make a difference.

‘I’ve watched Johnsy enough times this season to know he’s going to be able to give me something,’ Revell explained. ‘He was fantastic when he came on and Noycey set up the winner with his perseverance, so I’m absolutely over the moon.

‘It’s nice to have good players under your nose within the club already, rather than having to go looking for people and trying to find a budget to pay for them.

‘I gave them the chance and they both proved their worth by changing the game for us a little bit.’

Spurs travel to Dartmouth this Saturday (3pm), who will be buoyed by back-to-back wins – the latest against title favourites Torpoint Athletic last night. A coachload of supporters will also be making the trip from The Rec.

Revell added: ‘Sometimes it’s good to go down to a team who are on a high from winning in midweek. They’ll go into Saturday with a slight false sense of security now.

‘Winning against Torpoint is a massive thing, ringers or not, but at the same time if the players from that game aren’t playing on Saturday then it’s a totally different entity.

‘I still go down to Dartmouth confident, especially off the back of our win. The lads still didn’t play as well as I know they can, so I’ll ask for a little bit more from them on Saturday and hopefully we surprise them.

‘We’ll feel like the home side down there, too, because I don’t think Dartmouth will have 50 or 60 [supporters] with the voices that we’ve got. I expect some good support from our lot for sure.’