Tuesday, March 19, 2002

BROMSGROVE Rovers defeated Ludlow Town 2-1 to maintain their title challenge and record a fifth consecutive victory at the Red Lion Ground last night.

The game survived an afternoon pitch inspection and the heavy pitch caused both teams problems as they took time to find their feet on the heavy surface.

Chances

In a goalless first period the visitors failed to break down a hard working home defence, with Marvin Blake having the best chances for the Greens.

On 18 minurtes he beat the offside trap, but his shot just missed after clearing 'keeper Carl Alexandra.

On 36 minutes Blake outpaced Alan Hilder but saw his low drive shave the outside of the left hand post.

Ludlow rarely threatened Matt Lowe, their best effort of the half falling to Nathan Pelusciano who fired over after being put through by Darrell Salter.

Rovers fell behind seven minutes into the second half, Charlie Blakemore evading Mark Clifton on the right and sending a perfect pass to the far post for Salter to head home unmarked.

This spurred Rovers into raising the pace of the game and they equalised after a spell of heavy pressure on 65 minutes.

Veteran defender Jon Ford rose to powerfully head home from Steve Taylor's left wing cross.

Blake had a penalty appeal turned down on 72 minutes while Kevin Banner continued to create problems on the left wing for Ludlow.

Winner

The winner finally came from his cross eight minutes from time Matt Coppin scored with a downward header for an excellent victory.

With Stratford losing at Oadby and Stourbridge only drawing at Quorn this result puts Rovers straight back into contention for the Midland Alliance title.