Saturday, February 26, 2005

Clevedon Town 1 Bromsgrove Rovers 1

Southern League Division One West

GRITTY Rovers took a deserved point at The Hand Stadium as they matched in-form Clevedon on Saturday.

For the second game in a row, battling Bromsgrove came from behind against their promotion chasing rivals and were unlucky not to return from Somerset with maximum points.

Jack Pitcher claimed his 19th league goal of the season in the 55th minute, but Carl Tranter made it two goals in as many games for Bromsgrove eight minutes later.

Riad Erraji's shot was collected by Town 'keeper Scott Courderoy, who had missed new signing Andy Turner's cross, before Matt Lowe got down smartly in the 8th minute to deny league top scorer Thomas Jacobs.

Rovers were let off the hook in the 42nd minute when midfielder Reinier Moor blasted over an open goal after Lowe had spilled a tame shot.

But Bromsgrove's goalkeeper made up for his error by making a brilliant diving save to stop Pitcher's stinging shot a minute later.

Tranter wasted a good chance to break the deadlock three minutes into the second half when he shot over the Clevedon goal, after Turner's neat through ball.

Rovers' went 1-0 down when Pitcher headed Hapgood's cross in at the near post in the 55th minute.

The away side responded eight minutes later when Tranter collected Erraji's incisive pass and brushed aside the defence to slot the ball past Courderoy.

Szewczyk flashed a shot across goal after a deft turn in Clevedon's penalty area, before Karl Johnson blocked the dangerous looking Jacobs in the 72nd minute.

A crunching tackle by Johnson outside the area stopped Pitcher in his tracks, after he had evaded Phil Male in the 79th minute, to seal a welcome point for the visitors.

Rovers: Lowe 7, M Johnson 6, Hillman 6, K Johnson 8, Phil Male 7, Riad Erraji 7, Mark Benbow 6, Nathan Jameson 6, (Daniels, 53 mins, 6) Szewczyk 7, Tranter 7, Turner 6.

Referee: Mr Paul Brown (Somerset)

Attendance: 234.

By Peter McKinney