TIM Flowers felt it was the ‘perfect day’ after he began his reign as Bromsgrove Sporting manager with an impressive 2-0 win against in-form St Ives Town.
Sporting ended their seven-game winless run in all competitions thanks to goals in either half from Miro Pais and debutant Peter Abimbola at the Victoria Ground.
And after making a winning start to his Rouslers tenure, Flowers insists there are still plenty of things his side need to work on in the coming weeks.
Flowers said: “It wasn’t pretty, the lads were dogged and resilient at Mickleover and threw a point away at the end when they were tired, against St Ives they stuck at the races and still had the energy to counter attack and get the winner.
“We showed great heart and great resilience, there’s still a hell of a lot of things we need to do and improve on but there’s no better feeling than winning a football match.
“It’s a lift for us because we’ve gone a little while without a victory, in front of our fans it was a perfect day for us all.
“I’m really chuffed for the boys, they were delighted coming in afterwards and the supporters seemed delighted which was great.”
Goalscorer Abimbola was one of three debutants in the Sporting line-up, alongside Mark Derricott and Nathan Blissett, with Flowers delighted by the trio’s efforts.
Flowers added: “I thought they did really well, you could tell they haven’t been playing football, Nathan I had at Solihull a few years back, you could see his presence, he’s a focal point.
“Peter Abimbola was going to St Ives the day before the game but they had him before Christmas and you can’t take the same player back twice, he’s a box-to-box midfielder but he hasn’t played any games.
“He did really well on a heavy pitch, he’s got great legs and he’ll only improve and kick on from the game he’s had.
“Mark Derricott can play centre back or right back, he was steady, he did a decent job against a good team.”
Sporting took the lead on 28 minutes when Pais produced an excellent first time finish into the top right corner of the goal after Aaron Roberts flicked on a long throw from the right.
And the Rouslers eventually sealed the points five minutes into injury time as Abimbola finished into an empty net following a rapid counter attack after the St Ives goalkeeper went up for a corner at the other end.
Flowers also provided a squad update and confirmed the departure of star midfielder Conor Tee who has made the move to National League North side Rushall Olympic.
He said: “We released a couple of players, Prince [Henry] and Tristan [Dunkley] have lefft us, we had a seven-day approach from Rushall for Conor Tee, I wanted to keep him and spoke to him.
“Unfortunately, he wanted to step up a level, there was nothing we could do about that, he goes with our best wishes, it’s my job to replace him and bring players in who are going to take the club forward.
“Whatever squad we’ve got and however good I think it is, I’m always looking for players and that little edge that may give us something more.”
Bromsgrove are next in action away at Hitchin Town on Saturday, February 24 with kick-off at 3pm at Top Field.
