BROMSGROVE Rovers AFC reduced the gap on leaders Silhill to three points after beating Nechells Athletic 2-1 at Rupert Street, writes Neil Gordon.
The Greens picked up their first victory after suffering back-to-back defeats against Hampton Sports and Silhill in Division Two of the Birmingham and District Football League.
Ash Pardoe and Jack Dawkins were on the scoresheet either side of half-time to cancel out Melaku Hunter’s opener for the hosts.
Rovers benefited from Boldmere Sports and Social Falcons’ stunning win at leaders Silhill, where Leonardo Torres hit a hat-trick to condemn Silhill to a first home defeat of the season.
Silhill were already three goals down when Andrew Mackey scored their consolation at Sharmans Cross Road to leave them three points ahead of Bromsgrove on 31 points with a game in hand.
Boldmere chalked up their sixth straight win with this result, moving up two places to seventh as they continue to put their slow start to the campaign behind them.
Ninth-placed Walsall Phoenix secured an impressive 3-3 draw in a thrilling contest against fourth-placed Hopwood Swifts at Woodfield Academy. Walsall lead 2-0 on 20 minutes with strikes from Cleve Belle and Cam Clarke before Sam Bennett reduced the arrears for Hopwood on half-time.
Hopwood equalised early in the second-half when a long-range effort was put away by Cam Jones after being parried by visiting goalkeeper Chris Mann. Jackson Jones then completed the comeback for Swifts when he put the hosts ahead.
However Phoenix refused to give in and Daniel Dines proved the hero when he swept home a fantastic finish from outside of the area to level the scores at 3-3 with the clock ticking down.
Third-placed North Solihull kept up the pressure on Bromsgrove and Silhill with a narrow 1-0 victory over lowly Polesworth North Warwicks courtesy of a Harvey Gibbins goal at Coleshill Road.
Solihull are now just one point behind second-placed Bromsgrove and only four points behind leaders Silhill with games in hand on both.
Hampton Sports dropped to fourth from second without kicking a ball owing to no fixture after Yardley Wood’s resignation.
And finally, Match of The Day have now won three consecutive games for the first time this season with a 3-1 victory over basement side Redditch Borough at Cherry Tree Walk.
Struggling Borough took the lead through Amara JR Gunaneh on ten minutes before Luke Campbell and Sonny Waters combined to complete the turn-around before half-time.
Alex Vinning sealed victory for the visitors’ midway through the second-half to inflict a seventh defeat in nine games on basement side Borough who remain on just four points.
