IT was a mixed afternoon for the Worcestershire clubs in the Southern Premier League Central Division last weekend.

Bromsgrove Sporting and Alvechurch both suffered opening day defeats as the  season kicked-off on Saturday, whilst Stourbridge drew at 10-men Banbury United.

Church and Sporting will meet on Tuesday night looking to bounce back, Bromsgrove in particular after a 4-0 thumping at home to Leiston.

The home side slipped behind after just 97 seconds when Will Davies was fouled on the edge of the area and Dylan Switters fired into Akos Onodi’s bottom left hand corner.

Leiston added a second mid-way through the first-half as Davies slid the ball under Onodi after being played through by Seb Dunbar.

Sporting were caught trying to play out from the back ten minutes before the break and quickly found themselves further behind as George Quantrell rifled home after Finlay Barnes was denied by Onodi.

It was a quiet second-half but the visitors had time for one more in the final stages as Davies got his second with a brilliant strike from 20 yards.

As for Alvechurch, they were left frustrated by St Ives Town as an unfortunate moment from keeper Dan Jezeph provided the hosts with the only goal of the game a few minutes before half-time.

The former Worcester City keeper failed to deal with a deflected cross into the box, seemingly unsure whether to catch or tip over the bar, and spilled to the feet of Nabil Shariff who tapped home.

Church dominated the second-half and had chances to equalise but the Ives' keeper Paul White pulled off a string of top saves to preserve their lead and the visitors could not make their pressure count.

The first Worcestershire derby of the season kicks off at 7.45pm at Lye Meadow, tickets are available but the club are expecting a big crows so urge people to buy quickly.

Stourbridge were held to a 1-1 draw away at Banbury United on Saturday, the Glassboys unable to force a result against the 10-men.

Stour had made the perfect start when Gregg Mills' cross was deflected home by a defender for an own-goal after just five minutes.

It got even better for the visitors when Banbury's Morgan Roberts was sent-off two minutes later after a dangerous challenge in the middle of the park.

The man advantage was not really evident from there on in as Stour's keeper Charlie price was the busier keeper, making a few decent saves to protect their slender lead. 

Banbury dominated the ball for large parts of the second period and were looking the more liekly to score.

Then, with 20 minutes to go, the deserved equaliser did come and what a goal it was. 

Ben Aquai picked the ball up from 20 yards and took a few touches before unleashing a fierce drive that flew past Price in the Stour goal. 

The hosts could have won it and in the end the visitors were perhaps fortunate to come away with a point.