Coalville Go Second - Ten-Man Stourbridge Earn a Point

Coalville Town moved into second place in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central on Monday night after winning 4-1 at the Trico Stadium against Redditch United.

The Reds, who have now suffered back-to-back defeats against the top two, were up against it as early as the 5th minute when Alex Dean headed the Ravens in front.

However, they got themselves back into the game after 27 minutes when they were awarded a penalty which top scorer Dan Sweeney duly converted.

Parity though lasted only 9 minutes as Jake Eggleton netted from close range following a corner.

In first half injury-time, Redditch came close to equalising, but Sweeney`s effort came back off a post.

Coalville made it 3-1 just past the hour-mark when centre-half Eggleton grabbed his second of the game, bursting forward on the counter-attack and netting after Reds` keeper Kieran Boucher had made a fine save from the initial effort.

And Adam Stevens` side made sure of victory in the 76th minute when Billy Kee scored after Kian Taylor`s shot had come back off the woodwork.

The win takes Coalville to within a point of Peterborough Sports, who are due to play at Nuneaton Borough this evening.

Monday`s other game at the War Memorial Athletic Ground saw Stourbridge and Rushall Olympic share a 1-1 draw in front of a crowd of 535.

The Pics, who haven`t lost in the league since the opening day, faced a Glassboys side who started as being amongst the favourites for a promotion push but have yet to win in 2021/22 and were bottom of the table.

But they showed that their climb up the table will surely only be a matter of time with a committed performance which saw them take a 12th-minute lead when a good run by Jack Wilson finished with Tom Solanke slotting the loose ball home past Tom Palmer.

Stourbridge held their lead until half-time. However, within 4 minutes of the restart, disaster struck when full back Ben Usher-Shipway, whose loan from Vanarama National League side Solihull Moors had been extended earlier in the day, was penalised for bringing down Danny Glover in the box and Rushall had a penalty.

And it was double trouble for the Glassboys as Usher-Shipway received a second yellow card for the concession of the penalty and was sent-off.

Glover made the hosts pay by equalising from the spot.

The ten-men battled hard but twice came close to conceding when, around the hour-mark, sub Richard Batchelor`s effort hit the crossbar and then in the closing seconds another sub, Shaquille Master, scored off the underside of the bar only to turn and see an assistant`s flag raised for offside.

The hard-earned point wasn`t enough to lift Stourbridge off the foot of the table, while the Pics are now in fifth spot.