REDDITCH halted a four-match losing streak with a 2-1 victory at Wednesbury in the West Midlands Premier Division on Saturday.
The visitors started positively and were passing the ball around nicely and a trademark short corner midway through the first half was neatly deflected home by Steve Cook who took his goal tally to six so far this season.
Redditch had a scare towards the end of the first half when star defender Ade Young appeared to fall awkwardly on the slippery surface, but they held on to go into half time with a 1-0 lead.
Wednesbury equalised early in the second half through Bradley Bellingham but Redditch kept their heads and always looked dangerous on the counter-attack as Cook, captain Dan Waite, Pete Dawson and Callum Amos-Pace all created good scoring opportunities.
Jacob Beard went close after deflecting a good through ball from Andy Billingham, whilst at the other end Ben Bryant had little to do in the Redditch goal but when called upon made some great clearances.
Redditch finally converted pressure into a goal when Matt Grubb confidently finished off a good move and the visitors managed to hold on for the win despite having Harry Makin yellow-carded late in the game.
The win takes Redditch up to eighth in the league, level on points with sixth placed Wednesbury, ahead of Saturday’s (1.30pm) home game against promotion-chasing Aldridge & Walsall which completes their 2014 fixtures.
REDDITCH 3rds went down 6-2 at home to a strong and experienced Stafford side in West Midlands Division One.
Stafford, who went top of the table with this victory, started quickly and Redditch were slow to react as Stafford’s slick passing broke through the Redditch defence on many occasions within the first 20 minutes.
On three of these occasions the visitors capitalised – two from open field play and the other from a penalty stroke after the ball was stopped from entering the goal by a Redditch foot off a Stafford penalty corner.
Redditch then realised their mistakes and some fast passing and link-up play between forward Connor Adams and right midfielder Will Moss nearly resulted in a goal.
This spurred Redditch on and a piece of individual skill from Ben Husband was finished off with a powerful strike which beat the opposition keeper at his near post.
This led to further chances for Redditch, of which many narrowly missed or hit the Stafford goalposts.
Finally, after hitting the head of a Stafford player low on the goalline, a penalty stroke was awarded to Redditch, but unfortunately this attempt was narrowly driven wide by Husband.
With just five minutes to go until half time Redditch’s concentration dropped and Stafford, again, punished them for it with a late goal to lead 4-1 going into the second half.
At the beginning of the second half Redditch looked to have learnt from previous mistakes and good play meant they were awarded a penalty corner right at the beginning of the half.
With previous attempts missed, Redditch knew they would have to score to get back into the game. An accurate injection from Moss met captain Wayne Beard at the top of the D and the ball was then slipped left to Tim Gibbs, whose shot was sent up into the air, but a run by the injector Moss saw him meet the ball at the near post and volley home his first goal of the season.
However, with Redditch chasing the game, they inevitably left gaps at the back and Stafford struck twice more to seal victory.
On Saturday fourth placed Redditch 3rds visit Finchfield in their final match before the Christmas break.
BOTH the ladies’ first team and Badgers’ matches were postponed due to frozen pitches on Saturday.
