The Pitching-In Southern League Premier Division Central, Saturday 3rd December, 3:00 p.m. kick-off
Bromsgrove Sporting 0 (0) Rushall Olympic 1 (1) at the Victoria Ground
Following an impressive comeback against Bedford Town the previous week, Sporting were back at the Victoria Ground last Saturday to play Rushall Olympic in the first return fixture of the season writes Shaunna-Grace Murphy.
Back in August, the 'Pics recorded their first win of the season against the Rouslers and an upward trajectory to fourth place in the table whilst Sporting have had their ups and downs. However with the home side on a decent run of form, a fairly evenly matched game was expected.
Ammar Dyer and player/manager Mike McGrath had to miss out having picked up enough yellow cards to earn a one-match suspension so it was a chance for Dom Perkins and Lewis Wright to come in and impress.
It was the visitors who started solidly and on the 16th minute, former Rousler Will Shorrock opened the scoring for Rushall when he picked up a pass from André Landell and drove home with the help of a deflected ball which caught Bromsgrove 'keeper Ollie Taylor off guard.
Sporting then had the better of the play for the remainder of the half and tried to get back into the game multiple times. Tom Taylor hit the woodwork with a header and Ryan Edmunds' two attempts went slightly over the bar.
The second half was pretty much the same and the introduction of Brandon Smalley and Jack Tolley to the Sporting attack showed signs of promise. However, it really was not Sporting's day and that was confirmed when Miro Pais hit the bar with a free-kick late in the match.
There was some unwelcome drama though in the 90th minute when Rushall's Kieran Cook was shown a straight red card for a rash tackle on Pais who fortunately walked away uninjured. With all the action taking place in front of the dugouts, a melee developed and referee Mr Beames brandished another red card this time to Richard Batchelor after what looked like a stamp on Sporting's Joe Curtis.
However with only 3 minutes of added time it was hard for Sporting to get the ball over the line and take advantage of their numerical superiority and so the scoreline remained with a narrow win for the visitors that was not undeserved in football terms but there were plenty of Sporting fans who gave credit to their team for a good performance and thought they also should have had three points.
Sporting line-up: Ollie Taylor, Lewis Wright (Jack Tolley 73 mins), Kieron Dawes, Joe Curtis, Tome Taylor (Capt), Dom Perkins, Kai Lissimore, Mo Njie, Dan Sweeney, Ryan Edmunds (Brandon Smalley 65 mins), Miro Pais. Unused substitutes: Callum King-Harmes, Harvey Portman, Jack Newell.
Referee: Mr L Beames (Cheltenham)
Crowd: 573
Sporting Man of the Match: Kieron Dawes
