Roms frustrated as leaders show their class

Zamaretto Southern Midlands One

Romulus 0

Burnham 1

ROMULUS lost out to a Will Dunlop header three minutes after the break on a frustrating afternoon where they were unlucky to lose to league leaders Burnham, writes Andy Mitchell.

In a physical encounter, the home side started the brighter with the best chance falling to Marcus Brown on 21 minutes.

He caught Dunlop in possession and broke away, only to see his tame shot smothered by Burnham goalkeeper Paul McCarthy.

At the other end, Stuart Swift hit the crossbar with an audacious lob from 40 yards after catching Matt Sargeant off his line just before half time.

The winner came on 48 minutes. Swift's in-swinging free-kick was headed home at the back post by Dunlop, despite a suspicion of offside.

Richard Evans' men didn't give up and probed right to the end.

Captain Lei Brown couldn't believe it when his crisp volley rebounded off McCarthy's left post with the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

And as time ticked away, McCarthy earned his side maximum points with late saves from another Brown volley and Mykel Beckley's close-range effort.

Zamaretto Southern Midlands One

Romulus 2

Bromsgrove Rovers 1

THE Roms overcame a youthful Rovers side on Tuesday night, despite a fragmented and somewhat flat display.

Richard Evans's men started brightly, forcing errors from the off.

They took the lead on four minutes after Marcus Brown latched on to Danny Douglas's header and drilled a low finish past Karl Lewis.

Mykel Beckley was twice unlucky that loose balls didn't land for him in the box as the pressure increased.

It seemed just a question of how many Romulus would score.

However, Bromsgrove dug deep and pressed the home side all over the park, levelling on 14 minutes, through James Pugh.

The winner came on the stroke of half-time as Nick Heath's ball from the right was taken down by Lei Brown just inside the area.

The Roms skipper was seemingly going nowhere but was barged over by Alexander Roofe and got up to slot away the penalty.

Romulus did show more control in a second half of few chances and Matt Sargeant made a double save from Stuart Hall on 50 minutes.

Other than that, Romulus held out comfortably but made little impression going forward, Marcus Brown particularly isolated as the game went on.

● Boldmere St Michaels drew 0-0 with Rocester in the Midland Alliance on Saturday.

The Mikes followed up the result with a 0-0 draw against Biddulph on Tuesday night.