Bromsgrove 1st XI 3 Whitchurch 1st XI 4

LEAKY Bromsgrove allowed a two goal lead slip through their fingers as promotion chasing Whitchurch grabbed a late winner in the West Midlands Hockey League Division One on Saturday.

The Boars had powered into a 2-0 lead by half time, but slack defending from set pieces allowed Whitchurch back into the game.

Captain Julian Court blamed the defeat on his players' poor fitness.

He said: "It's been the same problem all season, we just fade in the second half because we are not fit enough."

The Boars had went into the game buoyed by their performance in last Saturday's 4-3 friendly loss to Droitwich.

They certainly kept the momentum going, as goals for Matthew Russell and Pete Hall gave them the advantage.

However, Bromsgrove have a habit of making life difficult for themselves and the sin-binning of Sean Jackson and Court within minutes of each other allowed their opponents back into the match.

In the second half Bromsgrove allowed Whitchurch to equalise through two short corners.

Hall put his side ahead again, but a third accurate short corner made sure Whitchurch were level.

Bromsgrove went in search of the winner, but a swift break by the opposition resulted in the winning goal.

Court said: "We weren't able to match them at the end because we were so tired.

"The final goal was a killer as we had been the better team. "Short corners are difficult to defend, but to concede three goals from them was poor."

The Boars will be aiming to arrest their poor run of results on Saturday when they take on Market Drayton away.