Stourbridge 1, Blyth Spartans 2

TOOTHLESS Stourbridge saw their automatic promotion hopes dealt a serious blow with defeat against league leaders Blyth Spartans.

The visitors netted twice in the first half through Robbie Dale and Dan Maguire, his seventh in as many games since joining the table toppers.

In contrast, Stour struggled to get their attacking game going for large spells. Tom Tonks' late strike proved only a consolation for a side clearly missing top scorer Luke Benbow, who is facing a month on the sidelines with a broken hand.

The Glassboys' hopes of getting a vital victory weren't helped as winger Matt Dodd failed to make it through the warm up and had to be replaced by Drew Canavan in the line-up.

It was Blyth that made a quicker start to the clash and worked the first opening when Dale fired well over from distance.

Matt Gould was soon forced into his first save on five minutes to deny Luke Armstrong from a narrow angle after a winding run along the byline.

Stour answered well and enjoyed a spell of pressure of their own without really troubling visiting keeper Paul Woolston.

A host of corners and long throws caused a few issues but nothing more.

The opener came on 24 minutes when Dale netted direct from a set piece after Sean Read had been fouled by Kayelden Brown in a central position nearly 30 yards out.

Stour struggled to find an answer after going behind.

Westlake fired straight at the keeper on 30 minutes before Brown shot high and wide five minutes later after drifting in behind the back line.

Overall, it was the league leaders that looked the more threatening in the final third.

They doubled their advantage right on the stroke of half time when Maguire met a Jarrett Rivers ball from the right to glance past Gould.

Stour needed a spark in the second half but it never came.

They continued to toil in the final third following the restart and Blyth seemed happy to sit on their two-goal advantage.

Tom Tonks dragged an effort off target from outside the box on 54 minutes but the home side failed to build any sort of momentum.

It was Blyth that boasted the better cutting edge when they did go on the attack and Gould had to save from a Armstrong header on 65 minutes to keep his side in the game.

The contest soon began to edge away from the hosts and there was nothing they could do to stop it. They kept battling but couldn't find the quality needed to turn things around.

Dale then blazed a loose ball well over the bar just minutes before the end after Gould had initially smothered at the feet of Maguire.

However, the Glassboys did finally have something to cheer in the third minutes of stoppage time thanks to skipper Tonks. The ball came back to him after his corner from the right and he dispatched a fine curling effort with the outside of his right foot past defender Jordan Watson on the line.

But but it proved too little, too late and the hosts didn't have time to mount any sort of a comeback.

The win saw Blyth extend the gap to the Glassboys who will now surely have to stay focused on bagging a play-off place.

The loss through injury of key attackers Dodd, Chris Lait and top scorer Benbow looked even more serious given their lack of threat up front against the leaders today.

They will at least have the chance to respond quickly with Warrington visiting Amblecote on Monday.

Stourbridge: Gould, Green (Westwood 60), Westlake, Tonks (c), Sho-Silva, Pierpoint, Canavan, Broadhurst (Heath 60), Jones (Birch 70), Archer, Brown.

Unused Subs: Brigdale.

Blyth: Woolston, Atkinson, Watson, Laidler, Hutchinson, Buddle, Rivers, Reid, Maguire (Wrightson 90), Armstrong (McTiernan 85), Dale (c).

Unused Subs: Pell, Mullen, Pattison.

Att: 1,376