Saturday, November 23, 2002

FOUR second half goals gave Bromsgrove Rovers a 4-1 victory over Rocester and kept them top of the Dr Martens Western last Saturday.

But Gary Hackett and Jon Ford's side were made to work for the three points and were perhaps slightly fortunate to win by such a margin.

Indeed, it could have gone horribly wrong for the hosts within 30 seconds of the kick-off as Richard Owen hit a shot against the bar with Matt Lowe blinded by the sun.

A baseball cap was soon administered but the Rovers keeper was only called upon twice more in the first half. Unfortunately, on one of those occasions he was picking the ball out of the net.

Rovers though had their chances, Steve Frost heading against the bar on 16 minutes. The best chance fell to the unmarked Mark Clifton who should have done better ten minutes from the break instead of heading straight at the goalkeeper.

Rocester's goal came 60 seconds after Clifton's golden opportunity. Nicky Carter ran on to a through ball and beat Lowe from 20 yards.

But those who thought Rovers were going to slip up against the sort of team they should be beating - low in the league and short on goals - needn't have worried.

Four minutes after the re-start, James Dyson's miskick in front of goal landed in Paul Lloyd's path and he stabbed home the equaliser.

Good work by Richard Burgess and Dyson led to Kevin Banner curling a delightful right foot shot high into the net to put the hosts ahead on 62 minutes.

Rovers then introduced Neil Cartwright for Matt Southwick as they went for the kill. Cartwright nearly had an immediate impact as he weaved through the Rocester defence and forced the goalkeeper to push his shot over.

Despite the one-way traffic, Rovers looked to make the game safe, which they did with two goals in as many minutes.

Ten minutes from time both Dyson and Lloyd looked as though they were going to score but instead the ball ran for the hard-working Burgess to bundle the ball home from six yards out.

Two minutes later, substitute Les Palmer got his head to Burgess' seemingly goalbound strike to turn in an excellent fourth.

ROVERS

Lowe 6, Lloyd (sub Read 83 mins) 7, Banner 7, Clifton 6, Brighton 6, Pope 7, Dyson 7, Southwick (sub Cartwright 67 mins) 7, BURGESS (sub Palmer 76 mins) 8*, Danks 7, Frost 7.

Att - 506.