HOCKEY: Bromsgrove managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against Stafford in a hard-fought West Midlands Division One game.

With several players missing, including influential midfielders, Bromsgrove struggled to get a grip on the game and in truth were lucky to be only 1-0 down at half-time.

Nigel Johns, Max McLoughlin and Chris Uren were again the defensive rock upon which many of Bromsgrove’s performances have been built this year.

The second half continued in a similar vein, with Stafford dominating and Bromsgrove struggling to even get out of their own half.

Eventually, Town forced several penalty corners, which were wasted.

In the dying minutes, Bromsgrove grabbed an unlikely draw when a fast break involving Jake Bubbles and Tom Jennings was converted calmly by Callum Edwards.

The returning captain Laurence Shah said: “We were most disappointed with the result and more importantly the performance.

“We missed Andy Langlands, Matt Russell and Tom Green in midfield but hopefully they will be back next week. We need to get back to our goal-scoring ways as our forwards are off the boil at the moment.”

Bromsgrove are home to Tamworth on Saturday.