Sutton Coldfield Town 2 Stourbridge 3

The win – Stour’s fifth in a row in the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division – moves the Glassboys up into fifth place ahead of Saturday’s home clash with third-placed Darlington.

The starting line-up showed just one change from Saturday’s win at home to Mickleover Sports, with Matt Dodd returning after suspension at the expense of Drew Canavan. Meanwhile, Joe Hull continued at centre-back with Dan Scarr still away.

It was clear from the kick-off on Sutton’s 3G pitch, and in front of a crowd that included an abundance of red and white clad Glassboys supporters, that both teams were intent on pushing forward, and Stourbridge created the first chance on 6 minutes as Chris Lait’s ball in from the left flank was only half cleared for Leon Broadhurst to volley over from the edge of the box.

Almost immediately, Sutton hit back through Danny O’Callaghan whose low shot from a narrow angle was safely gathered by Matt Gould at his near post, and the Glassboys’ keeper had to be on his toes again on 17 minutes to hold a similar effort from Malachi Farqharson.

Gradually, the Royals were imposing themselves more and more on the game, and Stourbridge were finding it hard to string more than one or two passes together. Some sloppy defending almost let O’Callaghan in again on 21 minutes, and from the ensuing corner Justin Richards managed to deflect another effort behind.

The Glassboys at last began to exert a little pressure as the game passed the half hour mark. A good move involving Hawley and Lait saw Dodd’s cross cut out by a defender, and then Dood again caused problems a couple of minutes later, robbing left back Matt Jackson after a hurried clearance by keeper James Wren, and crossing low for Richards to back-heel the ball goalwards where Wren was able to make an instinctive stop.

But just as Stourbridge seemed to be in the ascendency the home side struck. Aaron Forde was allowed too much space to control the ball and pick his spot from the edge of the area and he placed the ball perfectly low inside Gould’s left-hand post. On the balance of play to that point, it was a deserved lead for the Royals, yet if anything it seemed to rouse the Glassboys and the remainder of the half saw pressure on the home goal.

Sean Geddes saw his 40th minute shot from distance skid a little on the surface and force Wren to tip around the post somewhat hurriedly, before Stourbridge’s most incisive move of the match brought the scores level. Kristian Green broke forward, cut inside and slipped a pass through to the advancing Leon Broadhurst, who helped it on first time into Hawley’s path. The Glassboys hit-man needed no second invitation to pull the trigger, beating the sprawling Wren low to his right, despite the keeper getting a touch on the ball.

The timing was perfect, and buoyed by the goal, Stourbridge looked to attack again right from the off in the second period. Dodd might have done better just two minutes in when Hawley put him clear on goal, but he could only drag his shot well wide of the far post.

There was a scare at the other end on 49 minutes as a deflected shot fell to Ryan Edmunds in space at the far post, with Gould, despite being momentarily caught out, doing enough to block his effort.

That apart, Stourbridge looked most likely to produce the next goal, and so it proved on 57 minutes as a ricochet fell kindly for Hawley in the middle. He advanced before sending the ball left into the path of the unmarked Lait who drove into the penalty area, moved the ball onto his right foot and calmly stroked it beyond Wren into the far corner.

Within seven more minutes Stourbridge were 3-1 ahead, with a goal of “Route One” simplicity. Gould’s long clearance caught Sutton’s back-line momentarily off guard and Hawley was quickly onto the ball as it dropped behind them to fire past Wren on the half-volley.

It might have been 4-1 almost straight away, as Hull got his head to a Geddes free kick, but could not get sufficient power on the ball to trouble Wren, even with the help of a deflection of a Royals defender.

Any thoughts of seeing the game out were dispelled, however, with 20 minutes remaining. The Glassboys conceded a free kick in the ‘D’ on the edge of their penalty area and Edmunds curled the ball sumptuously over the wall and in off Gould’s right-hand post, in spite of the keeper’s despairing full-length dive, to give the Royals fresh hope.

The final stages though were largely controlled by Stourbridge, with Gould not called on to make a save, and rarely even to touch the ball, and it was the Glassboys who made most of the running.

Hawley fired well over with an ambitious effort from almost 30 yards on 84 minutes, Richards sent in a cross from the left a minute later that just eluded the head of the fast-arriving Dodd, and then both Vincent and Richards curled shots over from similar positions on the left-hand edge of the box in stoppage time.

A fourth goal would have added further gloss to a fine second half display, but the three points were all that mattered and the Glassboys, in the end, were worthy of that outcome.