9:22am Wednesday 14th November 2007
BROMSGROVE captain Julian Court admitted his side were below par as they stumbled to a 6-3 defeat to Old Halesonians.
Court's side remain in second place in West Midlands Division One despite their second defeat in a row.
And the skipper said his side struggled to deal with the relentless pressure in Saturday's clash, which saw their opponents race into a 4-1 half time lead.
"They were the better side," said Court.
"They put us under a lot of pressure and it told.
"Last week even though we lost we played well, but this week we didn't play well.
"We just lost our way in the first half.
"We got ourselves into a situation where we needed half time to come around."
Bromsgrove will be looking to bounce back on Saturday against Pershore.
l Droitwich seconds won their second game of the season, beating Old Halesonians 2-1.
Spa took the lead early when Nick Bates pounced on a defensive mistake, but the lead didn't last long as poor marking let the home side in for an equaliser. However, Irish International Pete Best grabbed a superb goal to make sure of the three points for Ade Clifton's team.
Bromsgrove Ladies extended their table topping unbeaten run to eight games on Saturday with a 3-1 victory over resilient Stourport.
Although Bromsgrove dominated possession they failed to convert numerous chances with Tricky Burton, Vicky Powell and Ange Gibson all going close.
It took a clever penalty corner routine to put them ahead when Heather Nunnerley fired into the roof of the net.
But Bromsgrove failed to heed the early warning signs when Stourport equalised from a virtually identical move.
However, this was against the overall run of play and Bromsgrove regained the lead when Burton hammered home their second goal following a good pass from Charlie Cole.
They sealed the win when Nunnerley added her second and Bromsgrove's third.
Head coach Alan Gormley conceded his side were not at their best.
"Today we did not play anywhere near as well as we can," he said.
"We did not get our fast tempo passing game into gear.
"It is good to see though that despite not playing as well as we can, we still won the game with something to spare."
l The ladies second team lost a thrilling derby game 2-0 to rivals Redditch.
Redditch started strongest and for the first 10 minutes dominated play, with keeper Bernie Mackie keeping Bromsgrove level with some fine saves.
As the half progressed Bromsgrove took the initiative and could have gone ahead with Jasmine Leigh and Chrissie Ashworth going close.
Redditch took the lead against the run of play from a hotly disputed penalty corner, the ball appearing to come off a Redditch player.
Bromsgrove threw everything at Redditch and Lucy Taylor and Ruth Brent almost equalised.
But Redditch intercepted a late attack and broke away to secure the win.
"The girls were superb today and did not get their just rewards," said Bromsgrove captain Anna Evans.
"With a bit more luck and more composure in front of goal we could have come away with something."
l The third team, featuring nine under-16 players, put in a brave effort as they lost 2-1 to Studley, with Hannah Evans on target for Bromsgrove.
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