Bromsgrove Rovers 0 Sutton Coldfield Town 0

Southern League Division One West

SHOT-shy Rovers were unable to break down their stubborn Midlands rival in an entertaining game.

However, it was marred by Sutton striker Damien Markman being taken to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder at the Victoria Ground on Saturday.

The second half was delayed by 25 minutes after the Sutton hitman hurt his shoulder by slamming into a hoarding while chasing a hopeful ball forward.

The game, which was also disrupted by a bystander collapsing, had been an end-to-end encounter, but ran out of steam after the lengthy delay.

The home side had the best chance of the game, but Arthur Appleton's goal bound header from Mark Benbow's corner was cleared off the line by Sutton captain Mark Wolsey in the second minute.

Sutton goalkeeper Justin Bray had to be alert to tip over Scott Hadland's long range volley in the seventh minute, before Rovers striker Leon Mitchell did well to collect Steve Hillman's long ball forward - but could only tamely shoot at Bray.

Sutton hitman Luke Fuller should have scored in the 14th minute when he was set free to drive into the box, but shot wide.

The hosts were enjoying a large slice of possession but were struggling to carve out clear chances.

Winger Kevin Banner though had a great chance to score in the 27th minute.

The winger neatly collected Matt Johnson's cross-field pass and drove into the box, but Bray was equal to his stinging shot and parried it behind for a corner.

Markman injured his shoulder in the 48th minute and the game was delayed until he was taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

After the re-start Bromsgrove were unable to build on their momentum from the first half, despite 17-goal top scorer Paul Szewczyk coming on for the ineffective Mitchell.

Szewczyk had Rovers' best scoring chance of the second half in the 65th minute, when Sutton defender Exodus Geohagan could only head on Male's cross to the hitman, but he stabbed the ball wide.

Neither side had the cutting edge to find a goal and the game petered out into a worthy draw.

Rovers: Lowe 7, Johnson 6, Hillman 7, Gardiner 6, Male 7, Erraji 6, Benbow 6, Hadland 6, Mitchell 6 (Szewczyk 57mins, 6), Appleton 6 (Francis, 76mins, 6), Banner 7 (Turner, 14mins, 6).

Referee: Mr Smith.

Attendance: 404.

By Peter McKinney