Stourbridge 3-2 Halesowen Town
A ate goal from Leon Broadhurst was enough to seal victory for the Glassboys in a typically feisty Local Derby.
There was plenty of endeavour from both sides for the impressive Boxing Day attendance of 1,813 to enjoy, but in truth the game never reached any great heights in terms of quality, and neither manager will have gone home entirely happy with his team’s defending, even with allowance made for the difficult, blustery conditions.
Glassboys manager Gary Hackett made two changes from the team that had narrowly lost at Blyth the previous Saturday, with the newly re-signed Sean Geddes replacing Louis Harris in midfield, and Lewis Solly returning for Charlie Price in goal, following two weeks absence with a back injury.
And Solly was in the thick of the action almost from the kick-off, when he raced from his penalty area in just the fifth minute as Jean-Michel Gueyes chased Jay Denny’s through ball into the right channel area for the visitors. Gueyes succeeded in reaching the ball first and headed it on, only for Solly to block with his outstretched hand. With visiting players and supporters vociferously demanding a red card, referee Neil Radford deemed the offence worthy of just yellow where other officials might have taken a harsher view.
If Solly considered himself lucky he was perhaps doubly so straight away, as former Glassboys Aaron Griffiths floated the resulting free kick over the wall and against the base of the Stourbridge keeper’s left-hand post, whence it was cleared to safety.
The reprieve was temporary, as just two minutes later Danny Bragoli, maybe sensing that Solly was rattled, tried his luck with an ambitious shot from 25 yards, with Solly only able to parry it into the path of Michael Turner who slotted home despite the efforts of Dan Scarr to block.
The Glassboys have probably not endured a worse two minutes in the entire season to date, but responded well with Stuart Pierpoint’s far post header from Ben Billingham’s free kick deflected wide for a corner in the 10th minute.
And two minutes later Stourbridge were level. Geddes picked out Karl Hawley in the penalty area with a clever pass, and the Glassboys’ marksman turned Bradley Lewis before sliding the ball under the advancing Shaun Rowley to the great relief of the home crowd.
Griffiths was again close for the visitors on the quarter hour as he tried a left-foot shot that was always fading wide, but generally it was the Glassboys who pushed forwards without making enough of their advantage in terms of possession. Billingham shot well over from 25 yards, and then Rowley spread himself well to block from Hawley at close range after the striker had again done well to work himself some space in the six yard box.
The rest of the half passed with little of note, until Pierpoint met a deep Billingham corner six minutes from the break that Denny needed to head off the line, before Turner at the other end was allowed to escape his marker too easily, only to shoot over when he should really have given Solly a save to make.
The second half began almost explosively as the first, with goals again at both ends within the first few minutes. First Kaiman Anderson managed to outmuscle Junior Smikle, and then skipped round Pierpoint and Scarr on the edge of the box before appearing to scuff a shot somewhat that deceived Solly and rolled gently into the bottom left corner to put the Yeltz ahead once more on 51 minutes.
This time the lead was even more short-lived, as Stourbridge restored parity inside two minutes with the simplest of goals. Billingham’s right-wing corner was met in the six-yard box by Scarr, who rose above everybody to plant a firm header beyond Rowley.
The crowd probably anticipated more goals at this point, but they were disappointed as neither side seemed able to create serious chances or trouble the opposing keeper enough for much of the rest of the half. Solly held onto Bragoli’s flicked header from a Denny free-kick with some comfort, whilst Hawley tried an overhead kick that lacked power and was intercepted, but real openings were few and far between as a series of substitutions disrupted the flow of proceedings.
However, as the game entered the closing stages it was Stourbridge who were doing more of the pressing and who looked the most likely to force a winner. Billingham’s corner on 84 minutes caused some uncertainty in the visitors’ six yard box until it was hacked to safety, but when the ball came out to Matt Dodd on the right he was felled by a challenge from substitute Nathan Waite to earn a free kick. Bllingham delivered the ball into the box where it bounced off the back of Kyle Morrison and dropped for Hawley to fire towards goal. The shot was blocked by Charlton on the line, with Rowley beaten, but Glassboys substitute Leon Broadhurst gleefully thumped it home to the delight of a packed Shed End.
The closing stages saw Solly once more the focus as he collapsed with nobody close to him and looked to be in some pain. With Hackett having introduced all three substitutes by this stage it was worrying development as a stretcher was summoned, but Solly recovered and was able to finish the game despite not looking entirely comfortable, with Stourbridge holding on to their lead and taking the points.
Team Sponsors