Bromsgrove men's 1st XI 2 Old Wulfrunians men's 1st XI 3

BROMSGROVE'S promotion hopes were dented on Sunday as they were beaten by rivals Old Wulfrunians in the Coaching Solutions West Midlands Division One.

The Boars never recovered from a nightmare start, which allowed second placed Wulfrunians to go 2-0 lead.

Despite a second half fight back it was a case of too little too late as they lost to one of their main rivals for promotion for the third time this season.

Captain Julian Court said: "We are starting games really slowly and it's costing us. We've lost to the top sides in this division by a goal and we have always given them the chance to take the lead.

"If we could rectify this problem we still have a chance of going up, but we can't afford to keep doing it."

Bromsgrove were punished twice for their poor start to the game.

They were caught out by a long flick forward, which allowed Tom Pickersgill to score.

Bromsgrove were trailing by two goals when Andy Peters scored from a short corner. Richard Saunders then gave Bromsgrove a mountain to climb when he scored just before half time. Undeterred Bromsgrove spent the second half-battling back into the match.

Mark Robinson pulled a goal back and then Clive Robinson scored to make sure it was a tense end to the match. However, Wulfrunians held out to win the game.

Court said: "We had so many chances to win, but their goalkeeper was excellent.

"Wulfrunians were better at taking their chances than us and they punished us."

Bromsgrove's home fixture against Redditch on Saturday was postponed after the umpire went to the wrong venue. The game is set to be re-arranged for the New Year.

On Saturday Bromsgrove go to struggling side Bloxwich aiming to bounce back from defeat straight away.