BROMSGROVE Sporting’s league season in the new Midland Football League Division One got off to poor start against recently demoted Highgate United on Saturday with a 1-0 loss at Victoria Park, but a midweek trip to Lye Meadow saw the Rouslers take away a 2-1 victory over Cadbury Athletic.
The match was played at Alvechurch’s ground as Cadbury’s ground in Bournville does not have floodlights.
Playing in warm sunshine and in front of a 300-strong crowd, Sporting started much the brighter and even got the ball into the net with just two minutes on the clock but scorer Josh McKenzie was ruled to have been offside.
The Rouslers took the lead on 10 minutes when Josh McKenzie easily tapped home from a few yards out after the lanky striker had evaded his markers.
They should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Chrisi Conway, again playing in midfield, made a good cross from the right only to see McKenzie slice wide of an open goal.
Cadbury began to exert themselves a bit more and their equaliser came on 39 minutes when Ben Mooney got behind a flat-footed defence and lobbed Sporting keeper Jake Bedford from 10 yards out.
After their half-time break a pep talk in the Sporting dressing room seemed to liven them up at the beginning of the second half and a number of good chances followed but all came to nothing as several shots went wide or over the bar. Cadbury though always looked dangerous and relied heavily on fast breaks up field but they too were unable to make any of their chances count.
Just as the match looked to be heading for a draw, Cadbury conceded a free kick just outside the box. Sporting’s record on set pieces in the match had not been good and little was expected from this one but Danny Ludlow cleverly deceived ‘keeper Fraser Oliver curling an excellent strike into the top right-hand corner of the net from 25 yards.
Manager Adrian Mander said: “I thought we should have been well in front after 20 minutes but failed to take our chances.
“But in the end I am happy with what was a deserved win.”
On Saturday it was a different story with opponents Highgate United, who were unfortunate to be relegated from the Midland Alliance last season on their failure to comply with ground regulations after finishing in third place, scoring the only goal of the game afterb two minutes
Lei Brown put an angled cross into the box from the left that Martin Crawford diverted past Sporting keeper Jake Bedford.
From then onwards there was little to separate the two sides. Sporting needless to say pressed forward in an attempt to get the equaliser whilst Highgate’s well-organised defence saw of any threats. They did attempt to increase their lead but were careful not to over-commit themselves and by now the Sporting back four were better organised.
Sporting’s best chances of the half came from Billy Russell who flashed a shot across the face of the goal on 16 minutes whilst Tesfa Robinson making his debut as a centre-back had his thundering header well-saved by visiting keeper Paul Chewitt when Sporting gained a free-kick on the 35th minute.
