PREPARATIONS for the resumption of the Red Recruitment Trophy went up a gear last weekend, as Bromsgrove Sporting stormed to a 5-2 friendly success at Rushall Olympic.
Brendan Kelly’s men continue their involvement in the one-off tournament, initially pencilled in for the festive period but now given a rebirth at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, against rivals Redditch United at the Trico Stadium this Saturday, and did plenty to impress their final warm-up against Rushall.
In what proved the final fixture played without supporters at Olympic’s Dales Lane home, Sporting were somewhat under the cosh to begin with and often relied on goalkeeper Daniel Platt to ensure parity.
That contribution from their custodian was vital and, with 11 minutes remaining of the first half, hit the front through a trialist right-back.
Ten minutes after the restart, that advantage was doubled courtesy of Jason Cowley – who enjoyed a loan stint at National League North side Kidderminster Harriers during the downtime experienced in Sporting’s short-lived league campaign – when the 25-year-old unleashed a bullet header into the Pics’ net from Charlie Dowd’s centre.
While Tyler Lyttle halved the deficit shortly after the hour mark for Rushall, another Cowley strike moments later put the Rouslers back in the box-seat.
It was the Sporting man once more who had a key role in the fourth goal, again provided by a trialist, when his initial attempt was saved by the Olympic ‘keeper late on.
With little time still remaining, a fifth goal provided the icing on the cake to round off a good afternoon’s work for Bromsgrove, as Nathan Binner etched his name onto the scoresheet.
Although there were plenty of positives for Kelly and Co. to take from the outing, the sight of midfielder Gift Mussa taking a heavily fall gave cause for concern, in an incident that required his substitution and a subsequent hospital scan to provide an all-clear concussion assessment.
