BROMSGROVE Rovers made it four points from six as they beat Bedworth United 1-0 at the Victoria Ground last night (Tuesday).

In their first home game of the campaign, Gary Hackett and Jon Ford's side, who drew 1-1 at Racing Club Warwick last Saturday, were ahead from the second minute. But they were made to work for their victory.

Hackett said: "We knew it would be tough. They beat Merthyr Tdyfil last Saturday who are one of the favourites for the title.

"They played some excellent football but I think we defended very well in the second half."

But, as with Saturday, Rovers wasted a lot of opportunities to put the game well beyond the visitors.

"All the better chances fell to ourselves and with a bit more clinical finishing we could have scored four or five," Hacket added.

"It was a good all round team performance and the work rate was excellent.

"I will take four points from six but we must carry that forward."

Les Palmer, who missed a penalty in the season's opener, got his team off to the perfect start.

Only 120 seconds were on the clock when a corner fell to Steve Taylor and his cross was headed home at the far post by Palmer.

Kevin Banner almost made it two for the hosts on 16 minutes.

The wing back, who caused Bedworth problems all night, chased down the ball on the edge of the penalty area only to see his effort cleared off the line.

Bedworth started to make a fight of it and Chris Partridge forced Chris Taylor in the home goal to smother the ball when he was put through on 18 minutes.

Steve Pope made an early exit from the game, limping off to be replaced on 21 minutes by Mark Clifton.

Richard Burgess somehow failed to connect with a Banner cross on the half hour when he looked certain to double Rovers' advantage.

Not even the appearance of a Samba band on the pitch at half time could change Rovers fortunes.

Try as they did, both sides found it difficult to break each other down but Bedworth's O'Toole did miss an open goal on the hour after Ford put his defenders in trouble.

The visitors began to control the game more as the clock wound down and Rovers became more frantic.

Burgess continued to make a nuisance of himself in the final third and had two good chances in the last 20 minutes.

Bedworth spent the last ten minutes camped in Rovers' penalty area but they could not find the finishing touch.

ROVERS: C Taylor 6, Benbow 6, Banner 7, Pope 7 (sub Clifton 21 mins), Brighton 8, Ford 6, S Taylor 7, Southwick 5 (sub Crisp 79 mins), Palmer 6 (sub Read 55 mins), BURGESS 8*, Beckett 6. Attendance: 511.