The 2016 FA Vase winners started on the front foot in Yorkshire with Ben Sayer driving into a plethora of space before firing wide of the mark inside five minutes.

Taddy, who were looking to keep the momentum pumping after Saturday’s impressive 4-1 victory over Shildon, almost broke the deadlock on 8 minutes when a superb cross-field ball by Josh Barrett was controlled and sent into the box by Billy Whitehouse to which Pete Davidson flicked narrowly over the crossbar.

However the dominant visitors took a deserved lead on 17 minutes when Sean Taylor drilled into the back of the net after Michael Ingham saved the initial effort by late addition to the team Joe Walton.

Both teams were playing attractive football out from the back but it was Nicky Gray’s men who were causing all of the problems. The clever nature and nous of Town’s midfield continued to bypass and break Tadcaster’s midfield of Langton, Roper and Davidson as Phillips, Potter and Carson found the gaps.

With Morpeth only growing in confidence, assistant manager Simon Collins acted upon this making an alteration to their formation in order to try and gain some kind of foothold on the contest. It almost paid off shortly after as Albion went the closest they came all afternoon with Joe Lumsden crashing a header off the crossbar from a lovely Billy Whitehouse free-kick.

This was merely a glimmer for the home side though as Morpeth doubled their lead on the half hour mark. Chris Howarth should have cleared the corner kick at the front post but ended up slicing into the danger area and when Josh Barrett couldn’t clear either, Romanian Iulian Petrache pounced to poke into the back of the net.

Set-pieces looked Taddy’s only way back into the contest as Harry Coates peeled off to the back post on a corner only to see his powerful header smashed off the line by Joe Walton.

Last season’s top scorer Aiden Savory was thrown on at the break to try and inject some kind of life into Tadcaster. However there was no reaction shown as the visitors increased their lead six minutes into the second half. It was another poor goal to concede as Ben Sayer’s corner kick somehow found the net. A Morpeth man ran across the front of goalkeeper Ingham who could only tip into his own goal.

The goal came at a crucial point in the match killing any hope of a Taddy comeback. From this point on Morpeth didn’t need to commit bodies forward and take any risks but the Brewers eventually started to show some effort with 15 minutes to go.

Winger Billy Whitehouse was one of few that continued to try and make things happen for his side bombing up and down the wing taking opponents on and delivering crosses into the penalty area. It was Whitehouse who recorded Albion’s second effort on target however it was straight down the throat of Town stopper Daniel Lowson.

If this was a tennis match it would have been won in straight sets by the Highwaymen with a large number of unforced errors the downfall.

They almost added a fourth when Davidson’s risky ball towards Coates was cut out by Wilton but Michael Ingham made a remarkable stop from point blank range to keep out a bewildered David Carlton.

Taddy put together their first piece of neat one-touch interplay on 80 minutes when Whitehouse found Aiden Savory who cushioned nicely into the path of substitute Ellis Barkworth but a sliding challenge blocked out the pull-back.

Joe Lumsden, who has caught the eye for the Brewers scoring four goals in his last two games, almost added another to his tally in the closest moments when he brilliantly nutmegged Jeffrey Henderson but Lowson was equal to the rare shot.

Morpeth were very good value for their victory and they will prove to get the better of many in their debut campaign in the Evo-Stik. As for the Brewers, a clear lack of effort was evident once again.

Full-Time: Tadcaster Albion 0-3 Morpeth Town

Tadcaster: Ingham©, Whitehouse (Baker 85), Howarth, Coates, Hardy (Barkworth 78), Barrett, Langton (Savory HT), Roper, Lumsden, Davidson, Stewart

Unused: Walters, Mycoe

Morpeth: Lowson, Carson, Turner, Sayer, Petrache, Henderson, Taylor (Fry HT), Phillips© (Hodgson 76), Walton (Forster 68), Carson, Potter

Unused: Burnicle, McDonald

Attendance: 243

Referee: Callum Gough