Bromsgrove Sporting were made to battle hard against Sutton Coldfield, as they recorded a 2-1 win at the Victoria Ground.
Goals in either half from Nathan Hayward and Jason Cowley were enough to steer Sporting to an eighth consecutive league success at home, despite Ryan Nesbitt's goal for the visitors with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
The early exchanges saw Bromsgrove largely dominate, with Cowley and Richard Gregory both proving a thorn in Sutton's side - however, despite the front pair both having chances, keeper Lewis Gwilliams was equal to everything thrown at him, including an exquisite stop from a Cowley shot, in which he tipped the ball onto the crossbar.
This was until the deadlock was broken on the 36th minute mark; a menacing Josh Quaynor corner caused havoc in the box, falling to Hayward, who wilfully headed the ball into the bottom corner.
The second came soon after the interval, as a beautiful long pass from Mike McGrath found Gregory, who intricately set up Cowley; a skilful drag back of the ball allowed him to slot home coolly past Gwilliams.
The visitors halved the deficit just shy of the 70th minute mark, as Nesbitt evaded all defenders before taking the ball past Sporting stopper Jono Brown and placing the ball into the net.
Cowley almost had a second soon after, but his neatly curled effort was well matched by the outstretched arm of Gwilliams, who was doing supremely well in keeping the home side's tally as low as possible.
Brown also proved important for some big moments after the Sutton goal, including palming a ferocious shot from out wide by the dangerous Nesbitt.
However, as the clock gradually wound down, Sporting were able to manage the game well, smartly keeping possession and eventually bagging all three points. |