Sporting's chances of gaining promotion received another boost when they overcame 4th placed Henley Forest in an entertaining encounter over the border in Warwickshire last Saturday.
Both teams had a number of absentees but still put out useful starting elevens. Youngster Danny Lismore replaced Ryan Molesworth in the Sporting defence and Dan Wilkes put on the number seven shirt owing to Nick Harris's injury.
The visitors were quick of the mark and from the outset showed more determination than the previous week against Knowle. This resolve paid dividends on just the second minute when Odane Barnes picked up a poor clearance rounded two defenders and chipped beautifully past Henley keeper Dellenty.
Sporting doubled their lead nine minutes later when Zac Blood floated over a perfectly placed corner to Jamie Siviter who coolly headed into the Henley net.
It was another Zac Blood corner that led to Sporting's third on 19 minutes. This time, the left-winger hit the ball low to the back of the penalty area that Nick Allen volleyed though a packed Henley defence.
A comfortable lead for the Rouslers but having already seen off their opponents twice this season, Henley were not going to give up. They started pushing forward a bit more and on 28 minutes, won a free-kick on the edge of their visitors box. Close enough to be a threat, Sporting lined up a wall thinking that the Henley captain and mid-fielder George Curry would hit it over the top. However they left too much of a gap on the left, Curry spotted this and placed a perfect free kick wide of the wall along the ground that just sneaked inside the post.
For the remainder of the half Sporting kept up the pressure but failed to add to the score line with Barnes and Blood blasting reasonable chances over the bar, whilst at the other end Sam Manoochehri saw his shot cleared of the line by Joe Brookes.
For the second half Sporting edged on the side of caution and kept plenty of players behind the ball. As a result, chances were few for either side with Oli Manoochehri having the best of effort on the period when he forced Jim McGettrick to make a good save on 75 minutes.
Both teams had played matches in mid-week and by the time referee Miss Moisey blew the final whistle there were a lot of tired legs on the pitch but relief for everybody from Bromsgrove to gain another three useful points.
So Sporting's bid for promotion is not over but with three matches left they know there is no option other than three wins.
Henley Forest (sky blue shirts, navy shorts, sky blue socks): David Dellenty, Mark Unitt (Dom Chartrand 80 mins), Matt Sharp, Chris Smith, Rhys Edwards, Sam Manoochehri, George Curry (Capt.), Michael Ellis, Alex Foster (Tom Wale 68 mins), Oli Manoochehri, Chris Key.
Substitute not used: Terence Morton
Sporting (green shirts, white shorts, green socks): Jim McGettrick, Danny Lismore, Gareth Rogers, Nick Allen, Neil Cooksey, Joe Brookes, Dan Wilkes (Alistair Crawford 82 mins), Jamie Rogers (Capt.), Odane Barnes, Jamie Siviter, Zac Blood
Substitutes not used: Shaun May, Dylan Townsend, James McKeon, Tom Weaver.
