Saints make hard work of beating Bromsgrove

Manager Lee Knibbs saw his Saints side concede yet another early goal but they stormed back to hit four past their visitors and move up to seventh in the Athium Midland Combination Premier, writes David Hucker.

Knibbs is enjoying a fairy-tale start to his reign at Banbury Road, with a 100 per cent record after seven matches, putting the results down to “a lot of hard work”.

“Whatever you do, you can’t guarantee results but, if you put the effort in, you increase the chances of success,” said Knibbs.

“We are getting better all the time. There were a couple of spells during the Sporting match when we didn’t play well but, when we were on top, we carried the performance through for longer and looked a good side.”

Saints should have gone ahead in just the second minute but Chris Hayden’s shot was blocked by the legs of keeper Reece Francis and Simeon Smith’s follow-up was cleared off the line before Ryan Lynch fired the third attempt over.

Sporting forced a good save from home keeper Ollie Manuel before taking the lead in the sixth minute as Saints failed to clear a corner and Aaron Roberts fired in low and hard from the edge of the area.

Despite Saints having plenty of possession, it was Sporting who had the better chances and Jon Rogers should have increased the lead, only to spurn two clear-cut opportunities after breaking free of the home defence.

Saints equalised in the 37 minute when a long throw from Neil Stacey was headed on by Josh Cole and Smith cheekily back-heeled the ball home.

He nearly got a second after shaking off the close attention of former Saints defender Matt Ross before a penalty for handball gave Sporting the chance to go ahead again.

Taken by the normally reliable Joe Brookes, the shot was struck well away from Manuel, only for it to hit the inside of the post and rebound across the goal before going out.

Manuel pulled off another good save to deny Brookes in the 58th minute, while at the other end Francis was on hand to turn a Smith effort behind for a corner. And from Casey Gaggini’s dead ball, Cole made it 2-1 after Smith’s header had come back off the bar.

Graham increased the lead in the 76th minute, converting a cross from Marc Passey and it became four when Passey’s shot two minutes later was deflected past Francis.

Tomorrow, Saints travel to Hereford-based Pegasus Juniors in the first round proper of the FA Carlsberg Vase.

Juniors, who play in the West Midlands Regional League Premier Division, reached the second round proper in 2000/01 and Knibbs has experience of playing them from his time at Barwell.

“We will respect them and have to make ourselves hard to beat,” he said.

“They have a great pitch that will suit our style but we will do whatever is necessary on the day to get through. It’s a cup we want to do well in.”