Marine 1 Stourbridge 1

With injuries taking their toll on the squad, Gary Hackett was without Kristian Ramsey-Dickson, meaning Exodus Geohaghon was deployed in central defence. Kayelden Brown returned in attack and youth teamer Shane Grainger was drafted in on the bench.

After a quiet opening, it was Matthew Cooper in the Marine goal who was tested first, getting down well to save from Brian Smikle.

However, the Glassboys were to find themselves behind on 23 minutes when Andrew Fowler was on hand to convert a low left-wing cross from Christian Langos.

Undeterred, Stourbridge hit back five minutes later. Will Richards rose highest in the penalty area to get a good head on a Drew Canavan corner from the left. Cooper may well have had it covered but a deflection off the Mariners' Karl Clair was enough to beat him and bring the scores level.

Richards headed over the bar from another corner on the half-hour, and at the other end Dean Coleman was called into action on 37 minutes with a good low save before Paul McCone blocked the follow-up.

On the stroke of half-time, the home goal had a double let-off. First Kyle Haynes whipped in a cross from the right from which James Short could only glance a header against his own crossbar, and from the resulting corner Brown almost managed to force the ball over the line with Cooper grabbing it amidst Stourbridge appeals for a goal.

A change was forced on the Glassboys at the interval with George Bowerman, suffering the after effects of a blow on the head midway through the first period, replaced by Josh Morgan-Parker.

Andre Francis had the first meaningful effort of the second half for Stourbridge, his shot from 25 yards taking a slight deflection and leaving Cooper to make a solid save down by his right-hand post.

With both defences snuffing out any threat from the opposition the game seemed locked in a stalemate for a period. However, Stourbridge thought they had the lead on 69 minutes when Cooper, under a challenge from Brown, failed to take a cross from Peter Till, and Brown prodded the loose ball over the line only to find that he had been penalised for a foul on the goalkeeper.

For a spell Marine exerted pressure on the Glassboys back-line but could not fashion clear chances, although they appeared dismayed when the referee waved away penalty appeals after a challenge by Geohaghon.

Drew Canavan came close to putting Stourbridge ahead with ten minutes to go. His jinking run into the penalty area appeared to have opened up the chance for a shot, only for Andy Nicholas's last-ditch challenge to put the ball out for a corner.

The final chance of the game came on 86 minutes when a foul on Will Richards in the "D" presented Canavan with another shooting chance, but he was unable to keep his shot down.

Stourbridge: Coleman, Richards, Francis, McCone, Smikle, Brown, Haynes, Geohaghon, Bowerman, Canavan, Till.

Unused subs: Kalenda, Tye, Grainger, Hill (gk).

Attendance: 357