Chasetown 2
Rovers 1

THE New Year got off to a losing start for Bromsgrove Rovers as they suffered a defeat at promotion favourites Chasetown.

There were clear signs of ring rust amongst the Rovers team, who had not kicked a ball since the 2-0 defeat at Leamington on December 27.

Goals from Danny Smith and Richard Batchelor were enough to hand the Scholars three points, although Keenan Meakin-Richcards set up an exciting climax with a goal seven minutes from time.

Manager Rod Brown made two changes from his Rovers' side's last outing.

In midfield, Graham Deakin came in for Carl Slater, who has rejoined Gresley Rovers and Davion Hamilton took up a role on the left hand side at the expense of Sam Alsop.

Rovers' only chance of any note in the first period came after just 30 seconds, with a Meakin-Richards punt dropping kindly for Leon Kelly, but the striker hit his shot straight at Ryan Price.

Jimmy Dormand kept out Chasetown with two top drawer saves.

He got down quickly to push away Richard Batchelor's volley, and he was at full stretch again to beat away Mark Branch's free-kick which was destined for the far corner.

The hosts finally took the lead on 36 minutes, through Smith.

Dormand couldn't hold Ben Steane’s snap-shot and Smith was left with an easy tap-in.

Batchelor looked to have made the game safe for the hosts with a powerful 76th minute drive after he was teed up by John Branch.

There was still time for Rovers to grab a goal and Meakin-Richards bundled the ball over the line after Chasetown hesitated in dealing with Kevin Banner’s quick free-kick.

CHASETOWN: Price, Branch, Branch, Slater, Teesdale, Williams, Steane, Parsons, Birch (Reynolds, 75 mins), Smith, Batchelor. Unused subs: Onokah, Miller, Thomas, Ricketts.

ROVERS: Dormand, Barrett, Gardiner, Woolley, Richards (McHale, 82 mins), Deakin (Woodley, 63 mins), Banner, Meakin-Richards, Kelly, Waite (Jones, 60 mins), Hamilton. Unused subs: Brady, Beasley.

Referee: Mr E.Murphy. Attendance: 388.