Worcestershire Senior Urn - First Round - Tuesday 13th October 2015 - 7:45 p.m. kick-off
Bromsgrove Sporting 3 (1) Lye Town 1 (1) at the Victoria Ground
A solid performance from Sporting saw them progress through the first round of the Worcestershire Senior Urn with a capable display against a team playing one division higher.
Things could not have started better for the home team when they were gifted the lead in the first minute courtesy of Lye defender Dan Flowers who sliced Sean Brain's innocuous cross into his own net with the nearest Sporting player several yards away.
The game then redeveloped into a pattern with the two teams playing somewhat different tactics. The away side carefully building up attacks whilst Sporting went for playing direct out of defence to the front men.
Lye had the better of the possession and spent more time in the Bromsgrove half but failed to get past the back four let alone test Jozsef Jakab between the sticks.
Sean Brain and Dales Edwards up front made quite a nuisance of themselves with their pace and skills on the ball. On 28 minutes Brain was in a great position to score from the centre of the box but a brilliant sliding tackle from Jack Pearlman took the ball cleanly from his feet then moments later the striker grazed the bar with former Rousler Jake Bedford in goal for Lye some distance away.
With 38 minutes on the clock, Lye gained an equaliser after Sam Beasley went down in the box following the lightest of touches from Aaron Roberts; James Spray duly converted sending Jakab the wrong way.
Three minutes later Sporting themselves had a good call for a spot kick when Kalum Evitts handled but referee Mr Stokes waved play on.
After the interval, Lye attempted to plug the Sporting supply lines with closer marking and this more forceful tactic had the inevitable consequence of raising the tempo. They should have taking the lead on 55 minutes but Simon Williams scuffed his shot in front of goal.
On the 73rd minute Sporting restored their lead with a sublime free-kick taken by Simon Fitter from around 30 yards and described by one fan as "world class" that left Bedford grasping thin air.
The opposition though were not lying down and continued to search for another equaliser though Tom Overfield would be disappointed not to have done better with 15 minutes to go when he missed as easy chance with just Jakab to beat.
Sporting though sealed their win on the 85th minute when Reece Hewitt was brought down in the box attempting to weave between two defenders. Converting his own spot kick was then a formality.
Substitute Ricardo Richards looked more comfortable on the ball tonight than when he came on last Saturday and could have put himself on the score sheet in added time had his well-placed effort not gone just wide of the post.
So Sporting beat a good side and look forward to the next round.
Sporting: Jozsef Jakab, Aaron Roberts, Craig Jones, Simon Fitter (Capt.), Sam Delaney, James McKeon, Luke Dugmore, Reece Hewitt, Sean Brain (Connor Collins 63 mins), Josh McKenzie (Ricardo Richards 63 mins), Dale Edwards (Sam Wills 63 mins).
Goals: Own Goal (1 min), Fitter (73 mins), Hewitt (85 mins, penalty)
Substitutes not used: Ethan Hanks, Ryan Pierpoint.
Yellow: Dugmore (69 mins)
Lye: Jake Bedford, Joel Cains, Kalum Evitts (Kevin Nickle 75 mins), Sam Beasley, Jack Pearlman, Dan Flowers, Simon Williams, Scott Gennard (Capt.), James Spray (Ben Wilkins 69 mins), Tom Overfield, Kieron Northwood.
Substitutes not used: Ben Love, Nicky Pugh, Dan Jones
Goal: Spray (38 mins, penalty)
Yellow: Evitts (40 mins) Cains (86)
Referee: Mr D Stokes (Bromsgrove)
Assistants: Mr T Palmer (Droitwich), Mr A Genders (Redditch)
Crowd: 186
Weather: Cool, drizzle
Sporting MoM: Reece Hewitt
Report: Phil Baker
