A DEPLETED Bromsgrove Rovers AFC missed a last gasp penalty in a 2-1 pre-season defeat against Village FC, writes Neil Gordon.
Jake Byford failed to convert a late spot kick, having earlier put Bromsgrove ahead, as goals from Branihir Spicar and Joel Reid either side of the break condemned Rovers to defeat at South Bromsgrove High School.
Byford opened the scoring with a neat finish on 11 minutes as Rovers took the game to their Birmingham League Division One visitors despite the absence of key first team players.
The pressure continued for the remainder of the half as the Greens looked for a second goal with chances falling to Jake Evans, Jack Dawkins – twice, Tom Cox and Byford again, but they were unable to increase their lead.
Village equalised against the run of play on the stroke of half-time when Spicar headed home after Rovers young trialist goalkeeper had superbly kept out Spicar’s initial shot.
Bromsgrove went all out to regain the lead at the start of the second half only for Village’s Adam Willets to come closest to scoring when his long-range shot smacked the post.
And midway through the half, Reid put Village ahead when he fired his shot across goal and inside the back post.
The Greens received a dramatic lifeline when Byford drew a foul inside the box at the death but he spurned the chance of an equaliser from the penalty spot.
Rovers manager Spencer Machin said: “We controlled the game in the first-half but mistakes at the back and player injuries cost us.”
Bromsgrove travel to BRS United in a friendly at Cooksey Lane on Saturday, August 24 with kick-off at 2.30pm and admission free.
Elsewhere, the club’s recently-formed reserve side travelled to Cheltenham League Division One outfit Tewkesbury Town reserves for a friendly and suffered a 4-0 defeat.
