SOLIHULL Moors saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end after they were beaten 1-0 away at Notts County on bank holiday Monday.
Moors succumbed to Adam Chicksen’s second-half winner at Meadow Lane having eased past 10-man Dorking Wanderers last weekend at the ARMCO Arena.
The results means Moors sit fifth in the National League table, three points behind leaders Chesterfield.
Neal Ardley’s side started brightly against County when Jamey Osborne forced home goalkeeper Sam Slocombe into a comfortable early save.
And despite being second best for much of the first half, Moors went close to breaking the deadlock when Joe Sbarra’s goalbound shot was crucially blocked by Richard Brindley.
However, County went close in a frantic finish to the first period as James Clarke cleared Rúben Rodrigues’s effort off the line.
And Clarke was called into action again at the start of the second half as he bravely threw his body in the way of Macaulay Langstaff’s shot.
Moors felt they should have had a penalty when Andrew Dallas was impeded as he cut into the box only for the referee to wave play on.
And the home side took the lead moments later when Chicksen converted Matt Palmer’s cross with a first time finish past Louie Moulden on 65 minutes.
Solihull were unable to force their way back into the contest as they suffered their first league defeat of the season.
That came off the back of a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Dorking last weekend with Sbarra, Callum Howe and Josh Kelly all on target.
And Moors made the perfect start when Sbarra opened the scoring on 16 minutes after playing a neat one-two with Callum Maycock before producing a composed finish into the bottom corner.
Things became worse for Dorking when Isaac Philpot was shown a straight red card on 20 minutes after he hauled down Dallas as the last defender with the striker through on goal.
And Solihull made the most of their advantage to double their lead on 22 minutes when Howe directed a header into the bottom right corner.
Dorking had a golden chance to reduce the deficit when Moulden was adjudged to have fouled Bobby Joe-Taylor in the box after he was quickest to latch onto a through ball.
However, Moulden made amends as he brilliantly saved Ryan Seager’s penalty low down to his right to keep Moors lead intact.
A trio of substitutions helped Solihull regain the initiative as Connor Parsons crossed for Clarke only for the defender’s effort to hit the crossbar.
There was still time for Moors to add to their lead as substitute Kelly scored his first goal for the club in style in time added on with a delightful free-kick into the top left corner from 20-yards out.
Solihull are next in action at home to Altrincham on Saturday, September 3 with kick-off at 3pm at the ARMCO Arena.
