CIRCUMSTANCES conspired against Bromsgrove on Saturday as they failed to build on last week's impressive start to the season.

In fact they suffered a reverse of the 4-1 scoreline they inflicted on West Brom in week one of their Coaching Solutions West Midlands Division One campaign when they travelled to Whitchurch.

Two late pull-outs meant captain Julian Court could only take 11 players with him to the fixture and had to go into the clash with no substitutes. During the first half Pete Hall, who was carrying a knock anyway, pulled up with a hamstring injury and could only play the remainder of the game at walking pace. A similar injury then befell Nick Frizzell who also had to hobble around the pitch for most of the match, effectively reducing the Boars to just nine fit players on the field.

Uphill struggle

The injuries left Bromsgrove disorganised and the home side capitalised to race into a 3-0 lead at half time. However, during the interval Court's side were able to gather themselves and played much better in the second half, even dominating large periods themselves. But the referee awarded Whitchurch a penalty stroke against the run of play and the Boars were soon 4-0 down.

Faced with an uphill struggle, Paul Yates managed to get one back for Bromsgrove to make it 4-1 and the visitors bossed the final 15 minutes, but the damage had been done and there were no further goals.

Court said: "We could not keep possession in the first half because of our injury problems and they dominated us. That said, we did have three good chances to score but failed to take them.

"It was just not our day - we missed so many chances. It was one of those games where we would not have scored if we'd played until midnight.

"Joel Brace, who is only 16, came in from the 2nds and was outstanding - probably our man of the match. He could well feature again against Rugeley this weekend."

Bromsgrove should be back to full strength for the visit of Rugeley on Saturday (1pm start).

l The 2nds were also unfortunate to slip to a defeat against Whitchurch, as they went down 3-2 at home.

Bromsgrove started very brightly and took an early lead through Ali Shaw, who scored from close range.

Bruce Turner then added a spectacular second from skipper Steve Gill's long corner.

Shortly before the break, Shaw marred Bromsgrove's hitherto exemplary disciplinary record when he was sin-binned for a heavy tackle - his first card in 22 years of hockey! It was a harsh decision by the umpire, but Bromsgrove held on to go in 2-0 up at half time.

However, the second half started badly for Bromsgrove as another harsh decision, this time against 'keeper Andy Potter, resulted in a penalty flick. Potter was so nearly the hero when he got a glove to the stroke, but the ball trickled agonisingly over the line.

Whitchurch's equaliser came after a particularly honest moment from Bromsgrove's Simon Clifton, who admitted that the ball had hit his foot in the D. The umpire reversed his decision of a free hit to Bromsgrove and instead awarded a short corner to Whitchurch, which they converted.

With so many umpiring decisions going against Bromsgrove on the day, it is ironic that one that actually went in their favour was reversed by one of Bromsgrove's own players and resulted in a goal.

Whitchurch scored their winner with a scrappy third minutes later.

Bromsgrove fought well for the remainder of the match and applied constant pressure to the Whitchurch defence. In the final minutes, Graham Johns, Sean Jackson and Turner all went close to restoring parity, but to no avail.

Turner who was impressive throughout and looked very sharp and dangerous in front of goal, was awarded the man of the match award.

Gill said: "Despite this being our second consecutive defeat, I was again impressed with the side's performance.

"We have showed we can compete at this level and were very unfortunate not to score our first points of the season against an impressive Whitchurch side.

l The 4th XI lost 1-0 at home to Kidderminster. Andy Wyre was man of the match.