LEICESTER ROAD 0-1 BROMSGROVE SPORTING: MATCH REPORT...

Resilient Rowdy Rouslers Raid Rueful Roadies…

Leicester Road 0-1 Bromsgrove Sporting

To be fair, Sporting won this tense, tight encounter with little meaningful attacking resistance from their rivals, for the Rousler defence squeezed the life out of the free-scoring home offense and elsewhere on the pitch they pressed and denied their hosts the space and time to create more than a couple of goalscoring opportunities. Bromsgrove in comparison struck the home crossbar, forced Roadie ‘keeper Will Highland into a superb diving save and forged a number of other half-chances too. Leicester worked hard but Bromsgrove’s closely knit, beaverish unit crowded out the Hinckley based home team and strangled the life from their creativity although praise must go to Matty Stenson, the top Roadie scorer this term, for his energy, effort and effervescence never waned for a moment.

"AND IN THE RIGHT CORNER, CRAIIIIG 'THE ROUSLER' JOOOOOOOOONES...."

I was taken aback by the greetings I received from Bromsgrove’s contingent, including Secretary David Stephens, those fans who know my blog and through to the board members, who introduced me to their new Chairman. Even Sam Wills’ dad slapped me on the back… I’ve not seen Sporting play this season and I didn’t expect any recognition at all but I felt emotional about it and was relieved that Sporting didn’t lose in a way because I would always have been considered the jinx…

FIRE IN THE SPRING SKY, FIRE IN THE ROUSLERS' BELLIES...

The opening moments of the first period saw wasted corner routines by both teams and home central defender Josh Unsworth blocked a 19 yard strike by Reece Hewitt from a central position but Jason Cowley, the top scoring Rousler, impressed immediately with his close control, swift turns and high leaps, despite not being the usual target-man of 6 feet plus in size. He charged down a fly-kick by Highland, fell under pressure by Unsworth on the right side of the 18 yard box soon afterwards but he rose quicker than Jack from a box and fired an angled drive just past the far upright. His near post header from a right-flank centre was deflected for a right-wing flag-kick which brought the only goal of this fiercely contested match.

JORDAN BURROWS HIS WAY OUT OF A HOLE...

HIGHLAND FROWNS AT THE PAIN THAT IS COWLEY...

COWLEY NEEDS ATTENTION...

A THEATRICAL POSE...

WILL HIGHLAND IGNORES THE OPPOSITION...

Edwards rose above the tumbling home skipper Greg Downes and his header bounced inside the right upright, where right-back Jordan Burrows had left a small gap, although he and Billy Bennett had been posted on the sticks for just that kind of eventuality… Cue joy. The Rouslers probably knew that their grip on the game was already unshakeable and within minutes they nearly added to their tally.

THE ROUSLERS CELEBRATE THEIR GOAL...

A Cowley free-kick from 28 yards was partially blocked but home midfielder Joe Lyne, who performed with some good ability on the night, sliced the ball upwards and towards his own goalie, who pushed Ahmed Ali out of the way before flapping at the descending ball, whereby Lyne swung his right boot again and lashed it to safety. A weak back-header by Unsworth soon sent Cowley racing forward at inside-left but with Chris Lloyd running to support the striker to the right, Unsworth did so well to retreat quickly enough to block Cowley’s inevitable shot. The resulting corner on the offensive right was headed down by visiting skipper and boxer Craig Jones but Highland managed to deal with the effort down by his right stick. 

JONES: DOWNWARD HEADER...

The interval arrived and in truth, Leicester’s offense had failed to trouble Rousler ‘keeper Jon Brown at all, so Jon Brown’s body lay a-resting in the goalmouth but having brought a badger to the game it had been fascinating to note that Leicester fielded not only a Holt but also a Burrows. You just can’t make it up… 

THE REF DISCUSSES THE BACON BAPS...

HIGHLAND FLINGS HIMSELF DOWN...
LLOYD SEEMS UNIMPRESSED...

After the break Cowley displayed his springy legs and won an aerial challenge but Hewitt blazed his subsequent shot way too high, before the hosts crafted and squandered their only real offensive opportunity and it was no surprise that the architect was Lyne. Lyne danced into the Rouslers’ penalty-box, left-side and passed accurately and slightly backwards of square for the supporting Tom McGlinchey to run onto but the left-footed forward fired wide of the near post from an acceptable position. 

Cowley was closer to scoring at the other end though, when he busied himself on the left, moved effortlessly past both Unsworth and Lyne, before curling a shot from 18 yards towards the right side of the net but Highland was alive to the effort, dived left and pushed away the ball. Amarvir Sandhu replaced McGlinchey for the hosts and almost immediately Lloyd fired a free-kick for the guests against the Leicester crossbar and over from 18 yards, left-side of the penalty-area. Liam Spink who along with Hewitt had been at Redditch United earlier in the season, was as combative as ever and received the first caution of the match for a foul to halt Holt, then Rouslers Lloyd and the aforementioned Spink were relieved by Alfie Bloomer and Keenan Meakin-Richards.

Bloomer ended a smart Sporting move with an attempt to lift a shot over Highland from 17 yards but the ball dropped just too high, before a lapse in concentration at the back by the Roadies led to Cowley slashing a rising drive over the dressing-rooms. When the scavenging Stenson was upended unfairly by Edwards, the Bromsgrove goalscorer was booked but more importantly the hosts saw a shooting opportunity from the resulting free-kick. Holt took responsibility but lifted a disappointing shot a good way too high, silencing the already fairly quiet Leicester drummer…

Stenson made a fine run but was unable to thread a pass for Sandhu to race onto, Sam Munton replaced Bennett for the latter stages, which to be fair had seen the Roadies have more possession without really troubling Jones, Edwards, strong right-back Aaron Roberts, or the impressive left-defenceman Dan Morris. Another poor Leicester clearance allowed Cowley the opportunity to set up Bloomer centrally for a shot but this was blocked by the overworked Unsworth and Bloomer’s overhead attempt from the rebound bounced gently to Highland. 

The final whistle brought real elation for the Rouslers, who celebrated with their fans with gusto, as manager Paul ‘Smudger’ Smith allowed his feelings to show too by edging towards the vociferous fans with fists clenched and face cramped with an expression of jubilation. Leicester Road stood about in abject defeat, knowing that for all their fine efforts on the day, Bromsgrove’s tactical approach had prevented them from playing their expansive and expressive ground game. 

GAME OVER...

HANDSHAKES...

ROUSLER BELIEF...

ROADIE DISBELIEF...

Stenson and Lyne were decent offensively though and Callum Earls again looked competent in defence alongside Unsworth but maybe the bellowing, bludgeoning, brash presence of Nick ‘Brick Shithouse’ Hawkins was missed for the Roadies. Now 54, Hawkins remains as mean as ever in defence…

Smudger Smith messaged me that he had been proud of his team’s professional performance against a very good Leicester Road team. He felt that his talented outfit had been moulded into a solid team this year and that was surely the mark of their success.

Non-playing Nick Hawkins felt that Leicester Road had been rather poor on the night and that Sporting had been that bit better in most areas and had inflicted their game plan upon the Roadies, thus not allowing Leicester to implement theirs.

The pace of Lloyd and Cowley in attack, the foraging and calm midfield work of Ali, the quiet efficiency of Robbie Bunn and Spink in the workhouse, the extreme defensive wall cemented by Edwards and Jones and the total press employed by all members of the team for the vast majority of this encounter had led to a very convincing 0-1 victory for champions elect Bromsgrove Sporting…       

All good wishes to the Rouslers, for they could clinch the league title very soon. I will see them at Pershore on Monday, in a game that the Persians dare not lose… We’ll see. I was also impressed by the fact that Leicester fielded a Highland and a Downes, whereas Bromsgrove fielded a Bunn and a Bloomer… Now you really CAN’T make THAT up…

TEAMS:

LEICESTER ROAD:

WILL HIGHLAND, JORDAN BURROWS, JACK HARRISON, GREG DOWNES (CAPT), JOSH UNSWORTH, CALLUM EARLS, TOM McGLINCHEY, JOE LYNE, MATTY STENSON, JAKE HOLT, BILLY BENNETT. 

SUBS:

JOSH SMITH, SAM MUNTON, AMARVIR SANDHU, JACK HUMPHRIES, KEN HUGHES.

BROMSGROVE SPORTING:

JON BROWN, AARON ROBERTS, DAN MORRIS, LIAM SPINK, CRAIG JONES (CAPT), LUKE EDWARDS, CHRIS LLOYD, ROBBIE BUNN, JASON COWLEY, AHMED ALI, REECE HEWITT.

SUBS:

KEENAN MEAKIN-RICHARDS, SAM WILLS, JOHN PYKETT, ALFIE BLOOMER, LUKE SHORTHOUSE.