Bromsgrove Rovers 1 Harriers 3    Report by Philip Lench

With Bromsgrove Rovers going into administration yesterday, and this evening no sign of a rescue package at the 5:30pm deadline, then this could well be the last ever meeting between these two clubs in Rovers present form.  With Rovers over £600,000 in debt and the debtors waiting for some money off the club then it looks like there is no way back for them but to reform as an AFC Bromsgrove type of set up.

Knowing them it'll be AFC Worcestershire.

On to this high profile game and it's a competition that we never seem to do very well in.  That said it's silverware in the cupboard at the end of the day and we could do with some of that in ours.

The team compromised mainly fringe and Youth players with only David McDermott a regular and Kyle Hadley an occasional first team face.  It was Rovers that took the lead in the 21st minute with a goal from winger Luke Findley when his shot from the edge of the box took a deflection leaving the reserve keeper, Jasbir Singh, no chance of saving.

It wasn't too long before we had drawn level though when Aaron Farrell popped up with the equaliser two minutes later.  His side footed finish hits the Rovers keepers legs but came back to him to finish the job by bundling the ball over the line.

The game entered a barren spell for a while but then a minute before half time we got the lead we needed.

From almost the centre circle Liam Dolman saw the Rovers keeper on walkabout and let fly with a forty yard shot that literally almost broke the back of the net.

At the re-start Rovers almost managed to get themselves back into the game when they launched an all out assault on Singhs goal in search of the leveller.  Josh McKenzie came close to scoring twice when first he was blocked by Tom Sharpe and then a few minutes later a super save from Singh kept his shot from going in.

In the seventy first minute the game was made safe when Youth teamer Matthew Grainger, on as a sub for McDermott, headed the ball into the home net from close range

In the closing stages of the game Rovers tried to get some kind of consolation goal with a fine effort from Danny Scheppell drawing an equally fine save from Singh but it was all too late and the Harriers won bragging rights and progression into the next, exciting, installment of the Worcester Senior Cup.

Harriers:
Singh, Dolman, Sharpe, Hull, Costello, Seekings (Loader), Hadley, Hayward, Thompson-Brown, Farrell (Crumpton), McDermott (Grainger).

Unused substitute:
Wilkins.

Rovers:
Lewis, Gill, Hancox (Street), Gardiner, Richards (Snape), Lloyd, Jones, Scheppel, McKenzie, Campbell (Spence), Findley.

Unused substitutes:
Ray, Darby.

Goals from:
Farrell
Dolman
Grainger

Attendance:
137 (tba away)

Referee: John Lan