Redditch Hockey Club men's 1st XI 3

Bromsgrove Hockey Club men's 1st XI 3

A LAST gasp equaliser denied Bromsgrove full points and all but ended their promotion hopes in the Coaching Solutions West Midlands Division One on Sunday.

Bromsgrove had been 3-2 up in the dying minutes but their derby rivals levelled the scores from a short corner.

Captain Julian Court felt that promotion to the Premier Division was out of the question.

He said: "Promotion is out of our grasp now, we needed to win all our last games and hope some other team slips up. That's all over now.

"We can still finish third and that would be an achievement in itself, as they're some good teams in this division."

Bromsgrove went into the game on a high after defeating Yardley 4-0 previously on Saturday.

It didn't take long for Bromsgrove to take control of the game and goals for Matthew Russell and Bevan Edwards to put them 2-0 up. Redditch scored from a short corner just before the break to make it 2-1.

Bromsgrove were pulled back by Redditch early in the second half, but Nick Frizzell edged the Boars back in front with a strong finish.

The Boars though were hit by a blight of injuries, with Pete Hall, Mark Robinson and Tom Green all suffering blows in the second half.

However, late pressure told and Bromsgrove's rivals bagged a late equaliser.

Court said: "We were all gutted because that was a game we could have won.

"We conceded two goals from short corners, while we had loads of them and couldn't score."

Goals for Pete Hall, Tom Green, Matthew Russell and Nick Frizzell made sure Bromsgrove thumped Yardley 4-0 on Saturday.

Court said: "We didn't play as well as we did against Redditch, but we did enough to get the job done.

"Yardley's goalkeeper made some great saves or the score could have been a lot bigger."

Bromsgrove take on Market Drayton at home on Saturday, February 18 (1pm start).

Top scorer Hall, who has scored 19 goals for Bromsgrove this season, could miss the match because of an ankle problem.

Green and Robinson are also set to miss the match.

The last time the two sides met Bromsgrove lost a nine goal thriller 5-4.