BROMSGROVE Rovers manager Rod Brown is expecting another physical battle when his table-toppers tackle Cinderford Town.

Rovers, five points clear at the Southern League Division One Midlands summit, had two players sent-off as they defeated local rivals Evesham United 4-2 at the Victoria Ground. Liam McDonald was given his marching orders for two yellow cards and goalkeeper Chris Taylor saw red for bringing down Simon Fitter outside the area in a game which ended nine-a-side.

However, Taylor's ban has since been reduced to one game on appeal as two defenders were covering when he felled Fitter.

Brown's side now look to stretch their unbeaten run to 12 games when sixth-placed Cinderford visit the Victoria Ground.

He said: "I know Chris Byrne, the manager, very well and he always puts together a useful side. It will be a similar game to the one we had against Evesham and we have got to meet the challenges of the game.

"Every game is different and I think that showed on Saturday. Evesham came with an agenda and their agenda was to be very physical and we had to match them but they lost their discipline big style.

"It had everything and I reckon the 450 there were happy with what they saw. We showed a lot of resilience and I thought we would go on to win it comfortably."

Brown is hopeful captain Mark Taylor and Kevin Banner will return to the starting line-up following leg and groin injuries respectively.

However, Matty Hall (hamstring) and vetern Paul Carty (calf) are still sidelined for at least another week. Brown is also confident of signing a goalkeeper on a one-off loan deal to cover for Taylor.