West Bromwich men's first XI 5 Bromsgrove men's 1st XI 2

BATTLING Bromsgrove were shot down by two late goals as they slumped to defeat against their promotion rivals in the Coaching Solutions West Midlands Division One on Saturday.

Defeat ensured that the gap between third placed West Brom and Bromsgrove widened to nine points.

However, Bromsgrove had been pushing their opponents all the way, battling from 3-0 down to 3-2, before two goals late on rocked them.

Captain Julian Court said: "The score-line makes it look a lot more one sided than it actually was.

"We got caught late on but it was a very close match at one point."

Bromsgrove went into their first league game of 2006 missing Clive and Mark Robinson and Marcus Dawson. The absences forced half fit Paul Yates to play.

Bromsgrove were caught out twice from short corners and went into half time trailing 2-0.

The Boars were then stunned early in the second half when they gave away possession and conceded a third goal.

Teenager Joel Brace led the fight back with his first league goal for Bromsgrove's first team.

Matthew Russell was also on target as Bromsgrove clawed their way back to 3-2.

However, a mistake allowed West Brom to go 4-2 up.

Court said: "We gave the ball away in midfield and West Brom punished us. Our heads dropped a little bit and we never really recovered."

Bromsgrove's re-organised match against Redditch was called off on Sunday for the second time after the umpire failed to show.

l Bromsgrove will be aiming to get their promotion hopes back on track when they entertain leaders Whitchurch at home in Redditch on Saturday, January 21 (1pm start).