Bromsgrovians 1 – 1 Whitchurch
The Mens 1s travelled to Bromsgrove School this weekend to play Bromsgrovians, one of the strongest teams in the league this season. After the previous week’s undisciplined loss against Kingswinsford, the team focused hard from the start on tight marking of the opposition and trying to disrupt their free-passing style of play, and while Whitchurch spent most of the first half absorbing pressure from the home side, the scoring opportunities were kept to a minimum. A strong debut from George Dakin on the right of the defence was matched by a sold defensive performance by Alex Fewster on the left, and Bromsgrovians were forced to play through the tightly packed middle of the pitch a lot of the time. However they were able to win a number of short corners, once of which was converted after the Reds failed to clear their lines after the initial shot on goal.
In the second half Bromsgrovians made a tactical error which gave Whitchurch an opportunity to get back into the game, opting to fall back into a half press formation to defend their lead. This took the pressure off the Whitchurch midfield and defence and allowed them to start controlling the play. As a result, the home team started to get frustrated, and had a player yellow carded for repeated late tackles – Whitchurch then took advantage of the extra man with Chris Ruscoe making a number of fine runs down the right hand side which eventually led to a penalty corner for the Reds. This was converted from a well-worked routine by Ryan Dulson, to bring the scores level – although sadly Chris Ruscoe was yellow-carded at the same time for verbal exchanges with one of the home players.
The final fifteen minutes of the game saw Bromsgrovians return to their original formation and apply sustained pressure on the Whitchurch goal, but they were unable to convert any of their open play or penalty corners chances and were denied by a succession of fine saves by Andy Magee in the Whitchurch goal. While the full-time result flattered the Reds in terms of possession and goal-scoring opportunities, the draw was well-deserved in terms of the effort and character they displayed.