ALVECHURCH boss Ian Long admits that rivals Hereford "have one hand on" the Midlands Premier title.

The Bulls have a four point lead over Church after winning last Thursday’s crucial top-of-the-table clash at Lye Meadow.

With Alvechurch’s home game against Long Eaton on Saturday called off because of a waterlogged pitch, their opponents got the better of Brocton 4-1 to put them in control of the battle for automatic promotion.

Against Hereford, Alvechurch were trailing 2-0 thanks to goals for Rob Purdie and Pablo Haysham.

Substitute Danny Ashton pulled one back to spark a late push but their penalty curse struck when Jordan Nadat saw his spot-kick saved.

Long said: “I think it’s fair to say that Hereford have one hand on the title and it’s theirs to lose.

“I was disappointed with how we played to be honest, we were not great for 70 minutes.

“I think there were one or two nerves which spread around the squad.

“We changed the shape and went wide and nearly got something from it but we were never really at our best.

“It’s the curse of the penalties again, if we had scored all the ones we missed then we would be winning this league.”

The game was disrupted late on because of fans invading the pitch.

But chairman Richard Thorndike defended Alvechurch’s handing of the game, which saw a bumper 1,645 crowd at Lye Meadow – their largest attendance in over three decades.

Church had originally said it would be an all-ticket affair with a maximum crowd of 1,500. The chairman also said that several police officers were present with more in the village if needed.

He said: “We had the police down to risk assess the ground and followed their advice.

“We were told that it would be best to have the game as an all-ticket affair but we also had some MFL pass holders come down to watch the game.

“We had people from clubs such as Aston Villa and Crewe to watch the match but they were all in the clubhouse and there was around 70 MFL pass holders.

“We were also advised by police and the league that if there were some fans who arrived without tickets that to prevent them from causing problems outside the ground to let them in. There were 60 or 70 who turned up without tickets.

“Let me be clear, we have done everything in our power to make sure the game went smoothly.

“Under league rules you only need one steward per hundred fans but we had a lot more. We had 20 stewards, five people who were qualified door men as well as 16 volunteers.”

Meanwhile, Church can seal some silverware on Wednesday night when they take on Division One side Bromsgrove Sporting in the Worcestershire Senior Urn final at Evesham United FC (7.45pm ko). They resume the league at Sporting Khalsa on Saturday (3pm ko).

Long said: “Bromsgrove are playing well and winning games so they will be a challenge.

“But we’re favourites for the game.”