CHORLEY fell to defeat in front of a bumper crowd of 2,087 on Saturday afternoon, three first-half goals from Solihull Moors seeing Andy Preece's side exit the Isuzu FA Trophy in the fifth round of the competition.
The Magpies were dealt a real sucker punch within the opening two minutes of the contest, Tyrese Shade counter-attacking quickly for Andy Whing's side before going to dink the ball over Owen Foster, the ball going on to hit the crossbar and then fall kindly into the path of JACK STEVENS to tap home the opening goal.
The momentum began to swing in the Magpies' favour having gone behind, Jack Hazlehurst forcing Nick Hayes to palm his fierce effort away before Mark Ellis went mightily close to grabbing the leveller minutes later - Hayes with an exceptional save to force his header onto the post.
To their credit, Chorley continued to push for an equaliser but the visitors responded clinically and doubled their lead on 27 minutes, JOE SBARRA picking out the far corner with a well-placed effort after getting himself into a pocket of space inside the box.
Hayes was kept busy in response, Shenton hitting a shot from just outside of the area that dipped sharply - forcing an excellent save in the process.
Solihull would then go on to grab their third goal before the break, STEVENS bagging his second on the day after getting on the end of a loose ball before putting his foot through it and finding the far corner, leaving Foster with no chance.
The first chance after the restart fell to the visitors and Joss Labadie was kicking himself that the ball didn't find the back of the net, his effort from close range after an initial corner flying over the crossbar to much of the Chorley Group Victory Park's surprise.
Chorley's next real opportunity of the tie fell to Ellis who had the ball put on a plate for him from an Adam Blakeman free-kick but the former couldn't hit the target to his own disappointment.
The tempo of the afternoon began to drop as the minutes ticked on by towards the match's conclusion but the Moors did have a couple of chances in quick succession, Beck denied a shot at goal by Ellis before Sbarra was denied by the former having beaten Foster with a chipped effort at the first instance.
16-year old Noel Brindle came on as a subsitute for the Magpies with a couple of minutes impact for his first senior appearance for the club and almost made the stadium come alive, a rippling effort from distance forcing Hayes to palm it behind for a corner.
Ellis would grab a late consolation goal for Chorley in the final minute of additional time, heading in from point blank range but it was too little too late on the day.
Chorley: Foster, Whitehouse, Ellis, Wilson, Blakeman, Hazlehurst (Johnson, 65'), Shenton (Brindle, 89'), Calveley (Henley, 70'), Horbury, Nolan, Ubaezuonu.
Solihull Moors: Hayes, Clarke, Sbarra, Beck, Mafuta, Shade (Maycock, 81'), Stevens (Benn, 70'), Labadie (Osbourne, 61'), Stearman, Craig, Whitmore.
Goalscorers: Stevens (2', 44'), Sbarra (27'), Ellis (90+4')
Cautions: Ellis (27'), Hazlehurst (32'),
Referee: James Oldham.
Assistants: Mike Johnson & Adam Nichol.
Attendance: 2,016.
Up Next: We're back at HOME again this Tuesday to take on Spennymoor Town in a rearranged fixture. You can purchase your tickets for that one HERE:
