KIDDERMINSTER Hockey Club leapt into third place in the Coaching Solutions West Midlands Premier League with a fine 3-1 win over Solihull-based Old Silh-illians.

They were missing threekey players through injury but, in order to prevent a shortfall in the remaining club sides, no substitutes were taken along.

Matt Edwards twice slotted the ball past a stranded Sils goalkeeper, the opener a reverse-stick finish and the second a more conventional strike after a good play from Ajay Sandhu and Neil Jackson.

Sils tried to make the game more physical, leading to niggly fouls and after a rare attack on 20 minutes, the opposition captain raised the ball into Paul Grummitt's face, causing a split lip which required eight stitches and ended Grummitt's involvement.

Ten-man Kidderminster were put on the backfoot and a contentious short-corner saw Sils claw one back, the captain's strike beating the otherwise impeccable Martin Roberts in the Kidderminster goal. This score fired up the Kidderminster side and Sandhu scored an oustanding individual goal after a winding run.

In the second half the 10-man town side gave a brilliant defensive display, impenetrable as the tiring Sils tried every trick in the book to break them down.

Kidderminster were un-lucky not to add to their score, with Rob Sorrell firing into the side and Chris Bartle's lob going over.

This victory keeps Kidder-minster in touching distance of leaders Wednesbury, who could only manage a 2-2 draw with Stone.

The seconds put up a good fight against Old Halesonians in their West Midlands League fixture but succumbed to a 6-4 defeat.

The lead switched hands on several occasions with Rupert Upson, Phil Williams, David Mills and Phil Wheeler all on target for Kidderminster.

But with skipper Steve Mazurka yellow-carded for some heated words after a debatable decision, Hales capitalised on the numerical advantage to take control of the game.

Williams was the player-of-the-match for his great all-round play.

Goals from Jimmy Thorpe, Darren Jackson and Eddie Pietkowicz earned the thirds a 3-3 draw away at Bloxwich.

Kidderminster thought they had sneaked a victory from a Norman Lamb short corner late on.

But in the interests of fair play, they owned up to an infringement and talked themselves out of the winner. They host West Bromwich at 3.30pm on Saturday.

Marcus Griffith capped his debut for the fourths with a fine solo goal in their Fathoms League clash with Barford Tigers.

But Kidderminster's joy soon turned to despair as they were unable to maintain the initiative and ended up being hammered 8-1.

Goalkeeper Jamie Knott's man-of-the-match performance kept the score in single figures.