Redditch United 2 Bedworth United 1

WITH five men strung across midfield and Danks cutting a lonely figure up front, United's intentions were obvious from the start.

It wasn't pretty but it was effective, with Bedworth's outnumbered midfield struggling to feed their forwards after an early scare when the excellent Neil Olden thwarted Chris Partridge with a point blank save.

Danks fired behind in the 12th minute after a superb raking ball from Paul West.

With newboy Craig Harris snapping around midfield and Craig Hawkins and Tim jackson assisting, the visitors were unable to settle and the hosts' confidence grew.

Danks was denied only by a perfectly-timed Jamie Richardson challenge on 22 minutes but United's leading scorer had a hand in the opening goal eight minutes later.

The forward brilliantly wriggled free of three markers on the right before pulling back a delightful ball to leave Neil Cartwright with a simple tap-in.

Bedworth hit back when Richardson was inches away with a header from a Ben Steane free kick.

And Olden was again the hero when he was first to react after Partridge rattled the post, spreading himself to deny Adam Webster two yards out.

Danks stretched United's lead ten minutes after the break when Cartwright returned the favour by setting him up to smash one home via the keeper's knee.

But West was harshly penalised when the ball hit him on the arm from a Paul Rostron effort in the area in the 71st minute.

Craig Whitmore gave Redditch a nervy finish, sending Olden the wrong way from the spot but the Reds shot-stopper had the last laugh with another top drawer save three minutes into injury time to keep out a scrambled Richardson effort.