Needham Market began life in the Vanarama National League North with a harsh 3-0 defeat at Curzon Ashton.
Kevin Horlock's side were without captain Keiran Morphew and summer signing Harley Curtis, with new signings Ben Hunter making his Needham competitive debut.
Despite arguably being a better team for the majority of the first hour, the Marketmen conceded two goals around the hour mark that condemned them to defeat.
Horlock's men started brightly with Adam Mills' fierce low shot from distance looking to nestle into the bottom left-hand corner until the keeper moved across to put in the crucial block in the second minute.
Needham's bright start continued, though Curzon did put the visitors under pressure up until the 15th minute, when the Marketmen started to enjoy longer spells of possession, and arguably had the better chances.
Goalkeeper Marcus Garnham had little to do in the first half, other than rush off his line to head away a long ball towards his penalty area in the tenth minute.
At the other end, 3 minutes later, Jamie McGrath's pressure on the goalkeeper paid off, managing to get a touch before he could clear a pass back, but the keeper recovered to prevent it crossing the goal-line.
Will Hayhurst then smashed a 30-yard free-kick straight into the Needham wall on 20 minutes, before Garnham was smartly off his line to quickly gather a long ball ahead of Mols four minutes later.
After that, it was mostly the Marketmen in possession for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes, Tevan Allen was fed down the left wing before cutting inside to shoot, but his shot - inside the box - was smothered behind by the keeper after 26 minutes.
The resulting corner however saw Ingram just unable to connect with the resulting ball.
Needham then created a great chance on 28 minutes, great play saw Ben Hunter's audacious left wing cross flicked on by Adam Mills to Luke Ingram free at the far post, who was adjudged to be in an offside position as his shot was denied by the keeper at point blank range.
Jake Dye meanwhile won the Marketmen a corner with a smart run onto the right-hand side, before seeing his cross turned behind on 31 minutes.
The resulting corner, taken by Allen, saw debutant Ben Hunter thunder a volley over the crossbar.
Ingram then looked to catch the keeper out with a powerful shot at goal from 45-yards out, but his shot went just wide of the top left-hand corner.
After the restart, the Marketmen continued their bright start up until the hour mark when two defensive mistakes in the space of two minutes proved costly.
Garnham was then forced into his first major save on 54 minutes, tipping Stefan Mols' 30-yard free-kick over the bar.
Curzon then found a man in space on the edge of the box, but his shot went just over the crossbar in the 59th minute.
A minute later, Curzon capitalised on a defensive error as Jimmy Spencer broke through on goal before beating Garnham to find the bottom right-hand corner.
Seth Chambers then replaced Jacob Lay, before Curzon pounced on another Needham mistake as Stefan Mols broke through on goal before finding the bottom right-hand corner, similarly from close range on 62 minutes.
Chambers looked to have an instant impact, but his smart run down the left wing onto the byline took the last touch of the forward, after the defender made the block on 64 minutes.
Adam Mills then latched onto a left wing cross, but flicked his shot wide into the side-netting two minutes later, before Garnham was on hand to tip away a left wing corner into the six yard box.
Curzon then forced a great save from Garnham on 71 minutes, Buckley-Ricketts found space to shoot from the right-hand side, whose low shot was tipped behind by the Needham shot-stopper, down at his far post, before the keeper punched the resulting corner safely behind.
Seven minutes later, great tenacity from Ingram pressured the keeper into passing the ball straight to him on the right-hand side of the box, but the keeper recovered well - making himself big to smother his first effort while the second, angled effort, went wide into the side-netting.
As the game entered four minutes of stoppage time, the hosts teed up a man on the right-hand side of the box but a great last ditch challenge from the visitors put the ball behind for a corner.
The home side though added a third in the 3rd minute of added time, after Griffiths' free-kick cannoned off the crossbar - after a deflection - the resulting cross in our on the right wing saw Spencer score his second, glancing a header into the far corner.
Needham return to Bloomfields, for their first ever step 2 home game against Southport on Saturday (17th August, 3pm).
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