A makeshift Bromsgrove Sporting squad followed up their victory at Studley with another convincing win at home to Blackwood.
Playing against the strong wind in the first half Sporting coped well with the conditions and played some smart passing football. Both Ashman and Wilson on the flanks had the beating of the full backs and stretched the Blackwood defence all afternoon. However, it was the visitors who almost broke the deadlock on 16 minutes when a right wing corner flew over the defence and hit the far post before bouncing back into the grateful arms of keeper Bedford.
On 18 minutes, Sporting did open their account as Wilkinson threaded the ball through to Bellingham who drew a dive from keeper Edwards before dinking it over his prone body and into the net for 1-0.
Sporting broke through again on the half hour with Bellingham providing a cross that was just too high for Wilkinson to convert as his stretching boot diverted the ball over the bar with the keeper beaten.
Blackwood looked dangerous on the counter and Bedford was forced into a save at the feet of the opposition centre forward when he was played in to the danger area.
Another Sporting attack was broken up by a poor foul on Bellingham by ex-Sporting defender Adam Humphries who became the first player to go into the official's notebook.
Sporting threatened again on 40 minutes as goalmouth scramble resulted in a shot narrowly wide. Then on 41 minutes, Sporting added a second in controversial circumstances as Bellingham again shot home as the linesman flagged for offside but was, correctly, overruled by the referee as the balled had been played to the Sporting striker by a Blackwood defender.
Half-time Bromsgrove Sporting 2 - 0 Blackwood.
Sporting coped well in the second period as Blackwood tried to get back into the game and the closest they came was when keeper Bedford delayed a clearance and it hit an onrushing Blackwood forward and flew over the bar.
Bellingham then decided that Sporting needed better delivery into the danger zone and after a couple of corners caused danger in the box his free kick on 81 minutes was headed home by Darby to effectively seal the victory.
A couple of minutes later, a little more controversy lead indirectly to Blackwood's consolation goal from substitute Hill, Bellingham hot a shot that was diverted wide by a brilliant save from Edwards but the officials missed the keeper's deflection and awarded a goal kick. The result was the goal kick was hit down field and eventually fell to Hill who struck the goal.
Sporting then saw out the remaining few minutes with little difficulty for a satisfying win that moves them up to 5th place in the league.
Sporting Team; Jake Bedford, Chris Morris, Danny Edwards (sub Beni Gondwe), Lewis Clarke (sub Carl Hind), Luke Darby, (Capt), Joe Cole, Stefan Ashman (Sub Josh Breeze), Same Wilkinson, Mark Bellingham, Matt Poyner, Jack Wilson. Subs not used; Duane Darby, Matt Lowe.
Blackwood: Shaun Edwards, Dave Philips, Jack McEvoy (sub Andrew Fraher), Adam Humphries, Dan Dineen, Dave Glaze, Tom Cleaver (Sub Chris Hill), Nick John (Sub Tom Busby), Gareth Evans (Capt), Dean Poulson, Lee Thorpe |