TOP of the table Alvechurch took a giant stride towards taking this season's Midland League title with a crunch 2-1 triumph at second placed Lye Town.

In front of a bumper Stourbridge Road crowd, the Church staged a late show with goals from Connor Deards and Mike Wardle before Lye hit back with a last gasp Ben Billingham penalty after Zak Foster had been penalised.

Church boss Ian Long was quick to praise the large army of supporters who made the trip to Lye.

He said: "We must have taken well over 100 supporters and it was great to see all the Alvechurch scarves in the crowd and they let out such a huge roar when the first goal went in.

"In fact I was shocked by the amount of support we received which was fantastic for a village team and I would like to thank them all.

"Their support really helped, especially when we were under the cosh early in the second half, but goalkeeper Paul Evans pulled off two fantastic saves while Jamie Ashmore made a goal line clearance.

"It was our strength in depth that made the difference in the end and I was able to bring Ryan Edmunds and Tom Turton off the bench and they really helped to kick us on.

"We hit them with two quickfire goals. Connor's goal didn't come until the 81st minute, but it was a great finish. He only had one chance throughout the game, but he took it, while Mike Wardle's goal was a scrambled effort three minutes later. He was actually on the ground when he scored it.

"We conceded a late penalty but I have no complaints about that.

"Beating Lye was a massive hurdle - but we've still got 10 more hurdles to come."

Church travel to Loughborough this Saturday and will wait on the fitness of top marksman Josh March who missed the Lye match after pulling his hamstring in training.