REECE Hewitt netted two first-half goals as the Rouslers claimed a 3-0 victory over ten man Leicester Road.
The Sporting winger proved instrumental as a wonderful curling effort in the third minute opened the scoring before he doubled the lead ten minutes before half-time with a brilliant solo effort.
Third place Road offered very little attacking threat, and after Amavir Sandhu received his marching orders, their afternoon went from bad to worse as substitute Sean Brain rounded off the Rouslers’ scoring ten minutes from the end.
Sporting started the afternoon four points behind Midland Football League Division One leaders Coventry United, but the result sees them move to within one point of their rivals who have two games in hand.
In front of a crowd of 412, the Rouslers rose to the occasion and took the lead in the third minute through Hewitt.
The left winger collected a cross from Kyle Turner, turned his man and unleashed a wonderful curling effort that nestled into the top corner of the net, despite the efforts of Road keeper Will Highland.
Continuing to assert their dominance on the game, Sporting could easily have found themselves further ahead if it weren’t for some woeful finishing.
Hewitt and Turner spurned chances to double their advantage and nearly paid for it as Sandhu almost levelled the scores with a header from six yards out, but Chris Jay was there to deny him as he superbly tipped the ball onto the post and out for a corner.
From the resulting corner, Sandhu was once again the centre of attention but for all the wrong reasons as he received a straight red card for a headbutt.
The sending off proved to be a huge turning point in the game as Hewitt doubled Sporting’s lead in the 35th minute.
Picking up the ball 30 yards from goal, he waltzed his way past several Road defenders into the box before arrowing home a powerful low drive into the bottom corner.
Going into the second-half, Nathan Walker nearly made it 3-0 straight from kick-off as his 25 yard strike went agonisingly wide of the upright.
Road’s leading scorer James Hicks, who had been rather quiet up until now, nearly pulled a goal back for his side but his low shot was comfortably saved by an untroubled Jay.
The woodwork came to the rescue of Road on the hour mark as after keeper Highland was found in no man’s land following a floating cross from the right, Aaron Roberts had an open goal to aim at but his looping header bounced off the post and out for a goal kick.
Highland made amends for his error minutes later after denying Jack Wilson’s pile driver with a flying save to his left.
However, Road’s resistance was broken ten minutes from the end as substitute Brain netted the Rouslers’ third and final goal of the game.
After failing to collect a wonderful left-footed ball from Connor Collins, Brain had some luck as his marker slipped allowing him to break free and calmly slot home to end a comfortable afternoon’s work.
The result sees Sporting claim their eight successive win in all competitions – seven in the league – and avenge the 5-1 defeat to Road in mid-September last year.
Sporting will now welcome Bolehall Swifts to The Victoria Ground next weekend hoping to keep up their impressive run of form.
