Stratford Town drop into Southern Premier Central relegation zone after defeat at Alvechurch
Alvechurch 4-2 Stratford Town
Southern Premier Central
STRATFORD Town dropped into the relegation zone as their winless run on the road continued with a 4-2 defeat at Alvechurch on Tuesday night, reports Stuart Morse.
The Bards got off to a disastrous start and found themselves 2-0 down with just 16 minutes on the clock.
A neat throughball sent Thomas Edge free in the fifth minute and he calmly rounded the advancing Liam O’Brien before tapping into an unguarded net.
Eleven minutes later Jack Concannon was fouled on the edge of the area and Jed Abbey found a gap in Stratford’s defensive wall to double Church’s lead.
Towards the end of the first half Stratford looked as though they were finding their feet but on the cusp of the interval Alvechurch made it 3-0 as Danny Waldron easily chipped the ball over the on-rushing O’Brien.
Eleven minutes after the restart the Bards gave themselves a glimmer of hope, with Will Grocott’s free-kick falling to Dan Lafferty who made no mistake from close range.
In the 68th minute the woodwork came to the rescue of the home side as Will Dawes watched a curling shot cannon off the crossbar.
The Bards were looking good but three minutes later an interception from James Mace bounced into the path of Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton to score Alvechurch’s fourth.
Although Grocott reduced the arrears five minutes later with a neat finish from a Dawes cross, it was not enough to prevent Stratford from falling to another defeat.
The 4-2 reverse dropped Stratford into the relegation zone and it means they have now won just one of their last 13 Southern Premier Central outings. In all competitions, the Bards have won just one of their last 16.
ALVECHURCH: Daniel Jezeph, Ben Cassidy, Ethan Sephton, Aurio Teixeira, Harry Williams, Ashley Carter, Jediael Abbey (Jamie Willets 83), Thomas Edge, Daniel Waldron (Emmanuel Olaloko 90), Jack Concannon (Jack Hallahan 73), Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton. Unused subs: Harvey Randle, Harry Bower,
STRATFORD TOWN: Liam O’Brien, James Mace, Taylor Morrison, Joshua Hawker (Jamie Molyneux 75), Paul McCone, Carl Dickinson, Jesse Akubuine, Dan Lafferty, Andre Wright, Will Grocott (Mikey Taylor 84), Will Dawes. Unused subs: Aksum White, Louis Beresford, Ashley Sammons.
REFEREE: Harry Tarrant
ATTENDANCE: 189