Bashley 4 Stourbridge 4 (From Stourbridge News)

Bashley 4 Stourbridge 4

9:59am Monday 25th January 2010

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STOURBRIDGE saw two points slip through their grasp as Bashley staged an incredible fightback to grab a point with two goals in stoppage time.

The contest had been an exciting affair, that ebbed and flowed with both sides enjoying good passages of play and neither defence looking particularly comfortable when coming under pressure.

After their long trip down to the New Forest area, Stourbridge opened the game well and they took the lead after just three minutes.

Attacking up the slope, Aaron Drake got forward to combine with Ryan Rowe down the right and after taking a return pass, Drake crossed low into the middle and the arriving Leon Broadhurst was on hand to sweep a low shot past David Elm in the Bashley goal.

The home side fought back and eleven minutes later the Glassboys goal led a charmed life as Chris Knowles fired a shot against the crossbar before Charlie Knight saw his shot saved.

A drive from Dave Allen was deflected over the bar but from the resulting corner, the ball fell to Knowles on the left-hand side of the box who shot home through the legs of Lewis Solly.

Stourbridge looked for an instant reply and on 17 minutes a left-wing corner from Drew Canavan found Leon Broadhurst whose downward header was blocked by Elm. After that Bashley gained the upper hand for the remainder of the half with Knowles prompting matters in the middle of the park and Knight and Adam Kelly offering a genuine threat in the wide areas.

Kelly had the ball in the net, but had already been flagged offside.

The Glassboys threatened again from another set-piece after 32 minutes with a Canavan free-kick being met by Nathan Bennett whose header was kept out by Elm diving away to his left.

The subsequent corner from Drake was then headed out to Dovey who struck a low 20-yard shot narrowly wide. Four minutes before the interval Bashley forged in-front.

A ball in from Chris Ferrett was helped on towards goal and Gary Middleton was adjudged to have been pushed by Jamie Oliver as he got in a header that flew wide.

Dave Allen stepped forward to send Solly the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Bashley began the second-half on the front foot and Solly was called into action to keep out a good effort from Allen.

Moments later the stopper made an even better save from a Ross Bottomley header.

Stourbridge re-grouped though and in the 56th minute they got back on level terms.

A long ball forward from Oliver miscued off Middleton with the ball bouncing straight into the path of Ryan Rowe who coolly rounded Elm before slotting home into an empty net.

Eight minutes later, Gary Hackett's men struck again with Dovey back-heeling the ball to Leon Broadhurst whose drive from the edge of the area took a deflection past Elm.

The buoyant visitors stretched their advantage further in the 72nd minute when Bottomley tangled with Bennett in the box as Canavan sent over a corner from the left.

Bennett was left on the floor holding his head and the referee immediately pointed to the spot before cautioning the Bashley player.

Rowe duly made no mistake with his spot-kick to make it 4-2.

The hosts had to go for the broke and they had a penalty shout turned down as Gamble went down under a challenge from Drake.

At the other end Dovey drilled a 20-yard free-kick wide as the game entered stoppage time and then in a dramatic few minutes, it all went pear-shaped for the Glassboys.

First a corner from Justin Keeler dropped to Adam Kelly who was brought down from behind by Sam Rock and Allen again found the net with his penalty, although Solly got a hand to the ball.

Incredibly there was still time left for Bashley to force another corner and this time keeper Elm came forward too.

An ulmighty scramble in the box saw Solly keep out a header and a low shot from Middleton before Joe Maxwell tucked home from close range to make it all-square right at the death to round off an action-packed game.

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