HALESOWEN TOWN 1 PAULTON ROVERS 2

Rovers’ first ever visit to The Grove saw them secure three vital points but they were forced to come from behind in a game where the strong wind and bumpy pitch made it difficult for either side to play good football.

Both sides were awarded a free kick in the opening minutes and Town skipper, Brendan Kelly, sent his shot straight at Rovers’ keeper, Kyle Phillips while at the other end home keeper, Louis Connor, was relieved to see Adam Mahdi’s effort go just wide. The visitors should have gone ahead in the 12th minute as Ben Lacey went on a great run and although Connor made a good save from his shot the ball broke to James Billing but the Rovers’ striker shinned his effort well wide. At the other end a minute later Andrew Westwood sent over a cross into the Rovers’ box which was partially cleared but the ball back in from the left saw Nathan Jones head onto the bar and the striker looked certain to tuck away the rebound before Phillips pushed the ball away.

Town made the breakthrough on 23 minutes when a poor clearance from Phillips was collected by Jones and his ball inside the Rovers’ defence saw Ben Haselby go clear and slip the ball past the keeper and into the corner of the net.

It could easily have been worse for the visitors as first Westwood broke quickly and set up Nathan Jackson only to shoot weakly at Phillips and then on 33 minutes Ollie Price brought down Haselby in the box but Jones’ penalty was superbly saved by Phillips diving to his left.

Rovers held out to half time and with the wind assisting began the second period well as skipper, Dan Cleverley, set up a shooting opportunity for Craig Loxton, which Connor saved comfortably. However four minutes after the restart Rovers equalised.

Loxton took successive corners from the left and the second to the back post saw Price rise above everyone to head home into the bottom corner of the net.

Lacey forced Connor to make a fine save after a good cross from Stuart Tovey and with Town pressing to restore their lead Phillips did well to cut out a dangerous cross from Michael McGrath down the left. Lacey continued to cause the home defence problems with his pace and Phillips’ clearance downfield saw him cross from the right to Billing at the near post but his volley cleared the bar.
Rovers had a claim for a penalty turned down on 77 minutes when Loxton went down in the area under a challenge but the referee correctly waived play on. Scott Brice then sent a back post header just wide from another Loxton left wing corner before with just 9 minutes of normal time remaining the visitors sealed the win.

Loxton slipped a great pass inside the full back to Lacey and his cross found Billing who laid the ball back to Cleverley whose 25 yard shot took a deflection on its way past Connor and into the net.

Rovers had a few anxious moments in the time that remained plus the 5 minutes of injury time played but left with a victory that sees them consolidate third place in the table.

Rovers: Kyle Phillips, Stuart Tovey, Jack Allward, Nick Dunn, Ollie Price (Marcus Mapstone 60 mins), Scott Brice, Adam Mahdi (Josh Jeffries 69 mins), Craig Loxton, James Billing (Ben Osman 94 mins), Dan Cleverley (C),Ben Lacey.
Sub not used: Jon Harvey

Star Man: Ben Lacey (Rovers)

Referee: Andrew Barney
Assts: David Styles / Andrew Parker

Attendance: 187