Stourbridge Fanzine

Report

With Lewis Solly breaking his collar bone in midweek and several other players absent Gary Hackett had to ring the changes. Chris Taylor was drafted into the Stour goal, Nathan Broadhurst played at left back and Damion Jarrett, Craig Tibbetts and Todd Henderson all featured on the bench.

After an equal start to the game, Stourbridge suffered a further setback when Linden Dovey limped off to be replaced by Damion Jarrett, making his debut following his move from Rocester.

Despite both sides playing attractive football, they tended to cancel each other out and it seemed that the first half would be goalless. However, the game burst into life with two goals in the last two minutes of the first half.

Firstly, on 45 minutes, a long ball out of the Glassboys defence found Jarrett running at the Bashley defence. He twisted one way then the other before creating a shooting opportunity, which he squeezed under David Elm in the Bashley goal from the edge of the area.

The visitors hit back immediately and forced two corners in injury time, the second of which was flicked on at the near post and driven into the net by Adam Kelly from close range.

In the early stages of the second half, Stourbridge created three openings but on each occasion, Elm in the Bashley goal pulled off good saves to deny Rowe, Rock and Jarrett.

On 70 minutes, it seemed Stourbridge were handed a golden opportunity to go on and win the game when Gary Middleton, the visitors central defender, was ordered off for his second bookable offence. As is often the case, the first yellow card was perhaps a little harsh but a poor challenge, which did merit a booking, meant Middleton had to make the long and lonely walk.

The dismissal actually lifted the visitors who played with increased urgency and took the lead on 79 minutes with a really fine goal. A slick passing move ended with David Allen being sent through on goal and applying a cool finish with a well placed shot low down to Chris Taylor’s left.

The final ten minutes were increasingly frustrating for Stour as the visitors spent most of it wasting time by taking the ball to the corners and trying to keep it there.

However, they were made to pay for it when Stourbridge were awarded a free kick 4 minutes into stoppage time down their right flank. Sam Smith sent over a good cross and Nathan Bennett rose to head the ball back across goal for Ryan Rowe to nod home from 6 yards.

There was an element of “getting out of jail” with such a late equaliser but, overall, a draw was a fair result in a very evenly balanced game.

Report by Mark Binner