Express & Star

Stourbridge 5 Leiston 1 - Report

Stourbridge stormed to a convincing victory, striker Mike Taylor leading the way with a well-taken double.

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But it was the visitors to opened the scoring with what was to be their only attempt in a one-sided first half. A loose headed clearance from Jordaan Brown fell to Quevin Castro 25 yards from goal and his volley soared past Glassboys keeper James Wren.

The hosts peppered the Leiston goal in search of an equaliser with Greg Mills having an effort palmed away by keeper Charlie Beckwith before he had another chance deflected over the bar.

Stourbridge’s pressure finally told on 24 minutes when a pin-point Tom Turton corner picked out Jordan Williams at the far post and he volleyed into the net.

Five minutes later the Glassboys were ahead when good work from Dave Bellis and Kieran Cook set-up Taylor inside the area but he still needed to show some nimble footwork to beat his man and plant the ball past the keeper.

There should have been a third before half-time but Beckwith pulled off a superb reflex save to keep out a powerful Kristian Green volley.

Not that the majority of the 615 supporters had to wait long with Taylor scoring his second on 53 minutes following good work from Cody Fisher before Mills netted with a low drive from the edge of the area six minutes later.

The Glassboys wrapped things up ten minutes from the end when substitute Tom Tonks found the top left-hand corner with a perfect chip from the corner of the area.

There was still time for Mills to crash an effort against the bar and manager Ian Long was happy with the way his players bounced back from their early setback.

The boss said: “We got done with a sucker punch at the start when the kid has put it in from 25 yards but we stuck to the game plan and kept passing the ball and we came in 2-1 at half-time.

“I thought it was just a matter of time to be honest. No disrespect to Leiston but they’ve not had the best of starts and this was a long journey for them.”