Stourbridge 4 Coalville Town 2 - Report
Stourbridge went four points ahead of promotion rivals Kettering after a good performance against a spirited Coalville side who pushed them all the way.
In a game played in torrential rain and a freezing cold wind, Stourbridge took their chances better than the visitors, and Luke Benbow also produced a magnificent free kick to put them in control.
Coalville took the lead on only two minutes through a volley from the edge of the area by Andrew Wright and indeed dominated the opening stages of the game, with Stourbridge looking like they may be in for a torrid afternoon.
But the Glassboys found their feet Greg Mills going close with a shot that was deflected wide and Luke Benbow seeing a clever overhead free kick go just wide on 17 minutes.
It was Mills who was brought down for a penalty on the half hour as he surged into the box, though contact seemed minimal but he got up to score the spot kick and put Stourbridge level.
Playing conditions were even worse in the second half, but Stourbridge took the lead two minutes after the break when Benbow put in a shot that was only parried by Richard Walton in the Coalvill goal and Leon Broadhurst was on hand to turn it in.
Coalville were far from finished though and on 58 minutes Tom McGlinchey cut in from the left and his cross was turned in, the final touch coming from new signing Luke Shaw.
Kairo Mitchell should have made it 3-2 almost immediately after when he found himself in space but his weak shot allowed James Wren to save.
On 65 minutes though the dangerous Mills was brought down again for Stourbridge and Benbow sent his free kick into the top left hand corner of the net.
The scoring didn't look like it had finished though and on 80 minutes Mills' corner fround Broadhurst on the far post and the evergreen midfielder made it 4-2 to seal the points.
Stourbridge boss Gary Hackett was understandably pleased with the result and said: "We all know Coalville are a good side and were dangerous breaking forward but we also looked a threat at the other end.
"It was a tough game but we had the quality when we needed it and it was a great result on the back of four great away performances because it would have been easy to think we could rest a bit at home but you have to work hard for every point in this league."
