Nuneaton Boro 2

Redditch Utd 1

REDDITCH suffered their second defeat in four days when they were edged out at Nuneaton.

A Gez Murphy strike 14 minutes from time left Reds without a point and had manager Rod Brown looking for answers.

"We look a good side but we seem unable to do that for 90 minutes," the Reds boss said. "I don't know why that is."

Nuneaton opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Neil Moore rose unchallenged to head a Stuart Whittaker free-kick past stranded keeper Ryan Young.

But Reds were quick to respond, levelling the scores just two minutes later when Lee Jenkins threaded a ball through the Boro defence for debutant Chris Murphy to steer his shot home.

There was little to separate the sides for the remainder of a scrappy first half until Boro went close on 37 minutes when Rob Oddy's excellent cross into the box was met by Gez Murphy but his glancing header flew wide.

It was the home side that emerged for the second period looking the more determined to gain maximum points.

Twice they went close to regaining their lead but Gez Murphy saw his effort strike the legs of keeper Young before the Redditch stopper produced another good save to keep out David Staff's free-kick that curled around the foot of the visitors' wall.

Boro's winner finally came on 76 minutes. Substitute Mike Frew darted free of his marker and whipped in a cross. Gez Murphy rose above his marker and headed powerfully past the United keeper.

Frew could have added a third soon after but shot straight at Young while, at the other end, substitute Danny Scheppel floated a cross towards Paul Moore only for Boro defender Neil Moore to clear the danger.