Battling Alvechurch Beaten By Young Sky Blues

Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central club Alvechurch bowed out of the Birmingham Senior Cup after a thrilling 3-2 defeat at the CBS Arena against Championship hosts Coventry City.

In front of a crowd of 826, Church came closest to taking the lead when Danny Waldron’s 25-yard effort was deflected wide.

Seconds later, in the Sky Blues` first attack of note, they took the lead when Tristen Batanwi fired past Alvechurch keeper Dan Jezeph.

Ian Long’s side came close to levelling the semi-final but Tom Edge’s chip wa tipped onto the bar by Coventry keeper Luke Bell.

Bell then denied Jed Abbey from close range as the half came to a close.

City’s under-21s doubled their lead immediately after half-time when Batanwi found Justin Obikwu, who took a touch before firing past Jezeph.

A few minutes later and it looked to be game over when City made it 3-0 and again it was Batanwi causing problems before setting up Danny Cashman to score from close range.

Alvechurch pulled one back in the 75th minute with a fine half-volley from Jamie Soule.

Luke Bell then denied Harry Williams as Church put the pressure on the City youngsters.

Then, on 89 minutes, Alvechurch were awarded a penalty which Waldron duly converted and the 7 minutes of added time saw the home side put under a great deal of pressure.

But they held on to make it through to the final, despite a valiant effort from Alvechurch.

Alvechurch Web Site