"We're not far off" where we need to be, says Kelly - The Bromsgrove Standard

"We're not far off" where we need to be, says Kelly

Bromsgrove Editorial 12th Sep, 2019   0

SPORTING boss Brendan Kelly says the Rouslers are fully intent on stopping the rot on Saturday (3pm) when visiting the South East coast to face Lowestoft Town.

It brings a return to Southern Premier League Central action for Bromsgrove, who crashed out of the FA Cup at the first qualifying round stage against Stourbridge after Greg Mills’ second-half strike, handing them a third loss in succession.

Kelly feels his team were vastly improved on their 2-0 reverse to Banbury United the week before, and felt Sporting were hard done by not to at least force a replay.

“Considering we changed our shape slightly, we learnt some things that we didn’t know before,” he said.




“We were unlucky not to get anything out of the game, I’m disappointed with the result, but it’s one of them.

“We’re not going to win the FA Cup, Stourbridge aren’t going to win the FA Cup, so I’m just glad that there weren’t three points at stake.


One of the talking points of the match, a second yellow card shown to Joe Hull resulting in his dismissal in the 78th minute, failed to dim Sporting’s determination to search for a leveller – something which delighted the Bromsgrove manager.

“We still kept going, we showed nothing against Banbury, we didn’t have the same attitude as we did on Saturday,” said Kelly.

“We dominated large parts of the game and looked dangerous, we could have nicked a draw late on.

“If we can bring that work and energy with us on Saturday, then there’s no reason why we can’t build on last week’s performance.”

Hull had one of the better chances in the opening half when testing visiting stopper James Wren, while Shaquille McDonald failed to hit the target shortly after despite popping up in a good position.

Another save by Wren denied Hull once more, on what became an increasingly frustrating afternoon for the defender.

Mills’ winner came when the forward slipped the ball into the bottom corner after Bromsgrove failed to clear their lines, a goal which they failed to recover from despite efforts for John Pykett, Charlie Dowd and McDonald.

Despite Sporting’s shortcomings in recent weeks, Kelly is confident that Bromsgrove will recover if they keep up their work rate.

“I don’t think we’re that far off at the moment,” he said.

“We’ve not been overawed by the division, we’ve had a difficult start.

“In the games we’ve won, we’ve won them well, and vice versa.

“Hopefully they can take all of these lessons on board, we’ll have problems if not.

“Everyone’s still learning, so we hope we can take what we’ve learnt and use it to our advantage.”

Confirming a near-clean bill of health for Saturday’s game, Kelly says that Tom Taylor – who appeared after the hour mark from the bench – is back to full fitness.

Liam Spink is still yet to train, however, after an assessment last week.

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