Alcester Town made to pay for missed chances

FC STRATFORD survived a first-half onslaught as they secured a derby success over Alcester Town at the DCS Stadium on Tuesday night.

Goals from Jay Tilbury and Dean Poulson saw Stratford to victory as Alcester were made to pay for missing a string of chances in the first half.

“We started very well and looked sharp,” said FC Stratford manager, Dave Poulson.

“But Alcester then got on top and they will probably feel they should have been 3-1 up at half-time.

“I got into the lads what I wanted in the second half. We were far too open, but we came out in the second half with a bit of a strategy and I have to say, we were comfortable in the end.

“We were as good as I’ve seen us play for a while.”

Stratford started the better of the two sides and Paul Dipple was forced into a spectacular save to deny Stratford’s Ben Hill.

Stratford did go ahead when Jay Tilbury, who made a welcome return from a spell out with injury on Saturday, rounded Dipple and tucked the ball home.

The visitors hit back and enjoyed their best spell of the game, equalising when Ben Pattison headed home from a corner.

Stratford came out much-improved after the break and their winner arrived with 20 minutes to play when Ash Wilkes put through Dean Poulson, who finished well.

While disappointed to lose, Alcester player-boss Danny Janes was happy with his side's reaction following last Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Inkberrow.

“The players responded fantastically after our poor display on Saturday," he said.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half, we played with variation and attacking intent, we caused Stratford all sorts of problems.

"We should have been out of sight by half-time, we created loads of chances and should have put the game to bed – but we didn’t."

Both teams are back in Midland League action this Saturday. Stratford head to an unpredictable Inkberrow, while Alcester welcome high-flying Montpellier to Stratford Road.