Redditch Utd 1 Gloucester City 0

REDDITCH held on to snatch all three points from the Tigers who were kept in their cage mainly thanks to two wonder saves by Richard Anstiss, writes Matt Smith.

The Redditch stopper's heroics in the first half meant United could snatch the victory after being under pressure for much of the match.

It took 54 minutes for Redditch to score the goal that would seal victory.

Reds new signing Nicky Clarke found Alex Cowley lurking just inside the area after a super cross-field pass.

And Cowley's first time cross along the six-yard box was met by Mark Scott who fired the ball past outstretched City keeper, Matt Bath.

But apart from that, chances were few and far between for the home side with city making most of the clear-cut chances.

City's first chance came after 25 minutes.

A corner on the left from Neil Mustoe found Chris Burns whose downward header was instinctively beaten out by the Anstiss equivalent to Gordon Banks' wonder save against Pele in the 1970 World Cup.

Anstiss was again called into action five minutes later when City captain Neil Griffiths was found in the area by Burns but his effort was acrobatically tipped over by United's number one.

But the keeper could do nothing for City's third chance a minute later leaving it up to his defenders to clear.

Adie Harris' run pulled Anstiss from his line leaving an open goal for David Wilkinson to slot home.

But his effort was well blocked by Neil Manton off the line and cleared further.