Boldmere St Michaels 1 (1) Bromsgrove Sporting 4 (2) at The Trevor Brown memorial Ground

A COLD wind blew across Boldmere's artificial pitch telling us what we already knew that winter weather was here writes Phil Baker.

However there was a decent turnout from both sets of supporters and they saw an entertaining match that the visitors saw out with a three-goal margin.

A low sun bathed the pitch in watery sunshine and it looked to be shining down on Jason Cowley as early as the third minute but his half-volley from John Pykett's corner was headed off the line by George Ray.

From the clearance up field Ben Usher-Shipway found himself with space to spare as he advanced on Sporting's goal getting past Reece Francis and having an easy tap-in to give his side an early lead.

Sporting then laid siege to their opponents' goal with Pykett, Cowley and Robbie Bunn coming close.

The equaliser though came on the 21st minute and was unfortunate for Boldmere as an attempted clearance of a Cowley shot ricocheted off defender Joe Lyng into his own net.

The Rouslers then took the lead five minutes later when the alert Max Loveridge intercepted a Mikes' pass moving the ball to Bunn who had plenty of time to line up his low, angled shot which he buried in the bottom right-hand corner of Lewis Fenny's net.

Sean Brain could have got another on the 35th minute but his effort was tipped wide then three minutes later Ryan Shaw nearly got his side back into the match when his shot took a slight deflection, bounced on top of the bar then came back into play and safely into Francis' arms.

As expected the home side came out for the second half looking to even things up and nearly managed it on 53 minutes with several shots pinging round the Bromsgrove box and one cleared off the line by Guy Clark.

However it was Sporting who got on to the score sheet again when Sean Brain picked up a loose call from Aaron Roberts free-kick and had no trouble slotting into the left-hand corner of the home goal.

Connor Deards replaced Pykett on the right-wing and should have scored with eight minutes to go but blasted his effort over the bar.

However he made amends on the 90th minute when he picked up Cowley's pass scoring from his second attempt after his first was cleared back to him.

With a couple of added minutes on the clock Cowley has one more attempt saved on the line before referee Mr Cairns blew for the end and cheers from the visiting fans who went home happy with another useful three points.

Boldmere: Lewis Fenny, George Ray, J'cee Abraham, Cameron Gayle, Harry Craven, Joe Lyng, Ben Usher-Shipway, Craig Milligan (Capt), Curvin Ellis (Ryan Nesbitt 65 mins), Ryan Shaw (Jack Skinner 67 mins), Charlie Morris (Alister Brauns 79 mins).

Substitutes not used: Reiss Wagstaff, Charlie Anagho-Ntamark.

Goal: Ben Usher-Shipway (4 mins) Yellow: Joe Lyng (33 mins), Lewis Fenny (70 mins) Bromsgrove Sporting: Reece Francis, Aaron Roberts, Josh Quaynor, Max Loveridge, Guy Clark, Danny Morris, John Pykett (Connor Deards 65 mins), Robbie Bunn (Capt, Joe Ward 81 mins), Jason Cowley, Sean Brain (Nathan Binner 65 mins), Jack Wilson.

Substitutes not used: Craig Jones, Wade Malley.

Goals: Own Goal (Joe Lyng, 21 mins), Robbie Bunn (26 mins), Sean Brain (60 mins), Connor Deards (90 mins) Yellow: Aaron Roberts (68 mins) Referee: Mr R Cairns (Bedworth) Assistants: Mr D Badger (Shirley), Mr P Hewitson (Solihull).

Crowd: 289