Stourbridge 2 Colwyn Bay 0

The Seagulls were reduced to ten men as early as the 20th minute, but it took until 15 minutes from time for Dan Scarr to finally break the deadlock, and the result was only made safe with Ashley Vincent’s close-range second goal as the game entered stoppage time.

Manager Gary Hackett was forced into one change from the team that recorded back-to-back wins against Hyde United and Marine two weeks ago, with Ben Billingham taking the place of the suspended Matt Dodd, whilst there was a place on the bench for new signing Joe Hull after his arrival from Halesowen Town. The game also at last marked a 600th appearance in a Stourbridge shirt for Leon Broadhurst, after the two postponed FA Trophy games against Nantwich Town.

The game took a while to get going in the opening stages, with no more than half chances at either end. On six minutes, Jack Kelleher got behind Stuart Pierpoint but could only shoot tamely wide of goal, and then two minutes later Sean Geddes saw an equally ineffective effort from 20 yards blocked and cleared.

With 12 minutes played, Billingham cleverly flicked the ball on to Karl Hawley in space, but the Glassboys striker could only send his first-time shot wide of the target from just inside the penalty area.

With Bay competing well, and Kelleher keeping Pierpoint and Scarr on their toes, it was an even start, but events took a dramatic twist in the home sides favour on 19 minutes. A corner for the visitors was cleared to the edge of the Stourbridge box, where Geddes helped the ball on to Chris Lait. The blond winger immediately set off at full throttle through the heart of the Seagulls defence, trailing would-be tacklers in his wake, only to be upended some 70 yards later on the edge of the visitors’ 18-yard box. The tackle, by Jordan Fagbola, was perhaps clumsy at worst, and the suspicion was that Lait may also have over-run the ball, but the referee deemed it to have denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and brandished a red card.

Protests from the visitors were long and fervent, but to no avail, and they were relieved when further punishment was spared as Justin Richards struck the free kick straight into the defensive wall.

With the man advantage, Stourbridge sought to impose themselves on the game, with Lait the focal point of much of the play. The winger forced two fouls in quick succession out of right back Connor Roberts-Nurse that, on another day might have produced a yellow card, and was generally a thorn in the side of the Seagulls’ defence. Richards, meanwhile, did incur a caution for simulation after the ref deemed he had taken to ground too easily under a challenge from Carl Rogers.

Sean Geddes saw a snap shot from 25 yards held at the second attempt by Kieran Wolland in the Colwyn Bay goal after 29 minutes, and then a minute later Hawley curled an effort from the edge of the box just over the crossbar.

Stourbridge were now, for the most part, in control of the game, and visiting manager Kevin Lynch moved to change that with a substitution to bolster his midfield, leaving Kelleher to plough a lone furrow up front. With men behind the ball, the visitors challenged the Glassboys to break them down, although they might have made that task even harder had Steven Wilson done better than fire wildly over after dispossessing Kristian Green.

As the break approached, however, Stourbridge continued to turn the screw. First Geddes broke into the box and crossed for Hawley, who was unable to keep his volley down, and then Billingham crossed from the other flank for Richards to loop a header wide of the far post.

Like the first half, the second took a while to liven up, but when it did in the 53rd minute, there was no little controversy. Play was stopped for Kelleher to receive treatment for a knock to the head, and from the uncontested dropped ball that followed 50 yards out, Jordan Harper appeared to try his luck with a shot at goal. Fortunately for Stourbridge, Matt Gould was alive enough to scramble back and tip the ball wide for a corner, but that did not prevent heated exchanges between most of the players, which were only calmed when Josh Sumner played the corner straight to Gould with no Bay player in the penalty area.

It was Wolland’s turn to be in the action at the other end on 56 minutes as his weak clearance went straight to Billingham, but the Stourbridge man rushed his shot under pressure and the ball sailed over the crossbar.

Stourbridge were still making most of the running, but clearly growing frustrated by their inability to unlock the Bay defence and create clear openings. Indeed it was the visitors who might have scored when Liam Gibson’s free kick from the left was met by Antonie Boland at the far post, who could only direct his header wide.

The introduction of Drew Canavan for Kristian Green on 65 minutes, and a change to a 3-5-2 formation, gave the Glassboys some fresh impetus, but still chances were few and far between. Lait might well have been awarded a penalty on 70 minutes when he drove into the area and rounded Wolland only to go down under a challenge from Roberts-Nurse, but the referee was having none of it, much to the home crowd’s irritation.

But a goal at last arrived with 15 minutes to play, and again there was an element of controversy involved. Bay substitute Luke Denson allowed the ball to roll out for what he clearly thought should have been a goal kick, but a corner was given and from Geddes’s flag kick Dan Scarr got up to head goal-wards. It was not the firmest of headers, but Wolland was possibly deceived by Hawley’s attempt to deflect the ball and allowed it to float past him into the net.

The relief of the vast majority on and off the pitch was palpable, but the job was not yet done, although the Seagulls looked unlikely to find a way back as Stourbridge dealt with most of their attacks comfortably.

Pierpoint thought he had doubled the lead six minutes from time as Roberts-Nurse deflected his header past Wolland, but the whistle had already blown for an infringement, whilst the visitors’ frustration began to show through with bookings for both Harper and Roberts-Nurse in quick succession.

The goal that finally did kill the game off came as the clock ticked past 90 minutes, and involved two of the Glassboys’ substitutes. Canavan worked enough space on the right-hand edge of the penalty area to curl in a low cross that was met by Vincent at the far post, and he rammed the ball into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.

Hawley might have added a third with a shot from 20 yards five minutes into added time that Wolland held well, but the game was effectively over by then.

The result lifts Stourbridge up one place to 6th in the Evo-Stik League Premier Division table.