Football
Late goals see Rouslers claim incredible victory

BROMSGROVE Sporting secured one of the most dramatic victories in the club’s short history when triumphing 2-1 at Stafford Town on Saturday.

The scoreline barely begins to tell the story though as the Midland Combination Premier Division leaders, who moved six points clear at the top as a result of the victory, scored twice in second half injury time to take all three points and that came after being reduced to ten men in the 52nd minute.

Stafford will no doubt have been left kicking themselves that they failed to take advantage of the extra man and extend the lead beyond their visitors reach after taking the lead in the first half.

Sporting, who entertain Atherstone Town on Saturday (3pm) had the better of the chances in a cagey opening with James Turk seeing a fifth minute effort cleared off the line before the lively Elliot Nash had a shot blocked in the 12th minute.

It was the hosts who made the breakthrough though when Chris Morris scored in the 33rd minute when, after seeing his initial free kick come back off the wall, he fired the rebound past the unsighted Tom Savage.

The visitors came out in determined mood at the start of the second half but they were soon on the back foot again as Chris Gleadow saw red for a high tackle seven minutes in.

If Sporting were going to get anything out of the contest now the remaining ten men were really going to have to dig in and that is exactly what happened.

Nash, Keith Draper and Andy Nicol all saw good efforts come to nothing whilst Aaron Roberts’ overlapping runs from right-back were posing a constant threat to the Stafford defence.

With just a minute of normal time left Nicol forced Stafford keeper Sam Winstanley into a low save but it was after the 90 minutes that the real excitement began.

With two minutes of added time played, Nash chipped over a cross from near the left hand post which found Matt Ross at the far post to score from close range.

Sporting could have been forgiven for settling for a point at this stage but there was to come two minutes later when having won a free kick on the edge of the box, Nick Harris spotted a gap to tuck the ball in the corner of the net and give the visitors an unlikely victory.

THE Reserves won again on Saturday, beating Atherstone Town Reserves 3-1, and they will aim to maintain their run tomorrow when travelling to Racing Club Warwick (2pm).

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