Alvechurch 1 Cleethorpes Town 0

The Owls made the long midweek journey to Worcestershire in good heart after a spirited 3-1 victory on Saturday against Loughborough Dynamo. This extended the unbeaten Evostik run to 11 matches and a tough test was in store at Lye Meadow in a bid to maintain this record.

Alvechurch are currently in pole position to secure back-to-back promotions but suffered a surprise home reverse in their last outing against Spalding United.

This was the first ever league encounter between the clubs and manager Marcus Newell made just two changes from the weekend. Loz McKay and Oli Donald came in to a reshuffled defence in place of Tim Lowe and Mark Gray respectively.

The hosts started at a very fast rate with Sauane, Nadat and Ceesay all going close in the opening 10 minutes as Clee tried to get into their stride. This action included a great save from Sam Vince, which maintained parity. Captain Alex Flett was the saviour on the quarter-hour with a superb headed clearance from underneath his own bar.

Having survived the early onslaught, winger Jon Oglesby had a shot from the edge of the box comfortably saved and the same player created more danger moments later before being crowded out.

Alvechurch were forcing numerous corners and, from one of these, a header was only a foot wide. The home side were guilty of being wasteful and the evergreen Matt Bloomer was marshalling a hard-pressed defence with his usual endeavour.

Clee just could not retain possession for long and the front-pairing of Brody Robertson and Danny North were left to feed on scraps. Church continued to press hard in the centre of the park with the Owls’ midfield struggling to settle into a rhythm.

The half ended with another decent stop from Vince as the visitors were grateful to reach the break with the scoresheet blank.

HT Alvechurch 0 Cleethorpes Town 0

The second period started in the same vein with stopper Vince again in action. He saved superbly from a point-blank header, with a home forward somehow skewing the rebound wide from two yards.

As the match wore on, the home crowd were growing anxious that their dominance would not get its reward. Clee now sparked into their best spell of the game, as confidence grew that the Owls could grind out an important away result.

Josh Lacey and Curtis Bateson broke the shackles with clever interplay on the right flank, which just lacked the final ball. A couple of moments later, Lacey again marauded down the wing before winning a free-kick. Flett’s carefully flighted ball in was just too high for Donald.
Andy Taylor came on to replace Batson and McKay became the first Owls’ player of the night to enter the referee’s notepad.

The opening goal finally arrived for the hosts in the 69th minute. A right-wing whipped corner from Tom Turton was bulleted into the net by the head of Josh March through a ruck of players in the six-yard box.

Rather than break Clee’s brave rearguard, the visitors had two quick chances to grab the equaliser.

Firstly, Bloomer had a clear sight of goal but this snapshot was smothered and then a high-ball through caused confusion. Home keeper Price fumbled and North was on hand to loop a first-time hooked volley towards the unguarded net from 18 yards. Agonisingly his improvised effort drifted just out, after appearing to brush the upright.

With around 10 minutes to go, a double substitution saw Marc Cooper and Peter Winn come on. North and McKay were withdrawn as the Clee management looked to alter the course of the game.

Unfortunately, there was to be no late drama on this particular night as Alvechurch played out the remainder of the match by having the bulk of possession. The final whistle saw the end of the Owls’ 3-month unbeaten league run but, on the evening, the visitors could have no complaints.

FT Alvechurch 1 (March 69) Cleethorpes Town 0 Attendance: 109

I thought Alvechurch were about the best team we have played in the Evostik this campaign. Matt Bloomer and Oli Donald were colossal at the back but the hosts always carried the more potent threat. No time to mope around though, with plenty still to play for.

Marcus Newell was disappointed but philosophical after the game:

“We just did not retain the ball well enough and we have told the lads this in the dressing room. For whatever reason, we just were not at our best but we need to put this disappointment behind us quickly.

Credit to Alvechurch, who were definitely one of our best opponents of the season. Our destiny is still in our own hands and we have a massive Easter coming up.

We have an opportunity to get back on track as soon as Thursday and I know that our superb supporters will be out in numbers.”

Thanks for your time Marcus! As the boss stated, we have a hectic the Easter weekend:

Thursday 29th March (7.45pm) Corby Town – home
Saturday 31st March (3pm) Sheffield – away
Monday 2nd April (3pm) Lincoln United – home

Nine points on offer and you can be certain that everyone will be battling to secure as many as possible. Come down to Bradley to support the Owls as we enter this crucial stage of the campaign.

UP THE OWLS!