Stourbridge 3 Buxton 0 - Report

In a game played in often appalling conditions, Justin Richards broke the deadlock on the hour mark when he fired home from just inside the box.

Karl Hawley made the game safe 15 minutes from time, when he beat Buxton goalkeeper Myles Wright with an exquisite lob.

Defender Dan Scarr then completed the scoring late on, as the Glassboys halted a run of four games without a win.

Having been beaten at home by promotion rivals Ashton United on Monday night, this was a valuable win for Gary Hackett's side.#

Yet while the final scoreline was convincing, for an hour the Glassboys performance was far from it.

They struggled, along with the visitors, in the wind and rain which swept its way through the War Memorial Ground.

Richards goal, which came out of nothing, changed the game completely.

In the end, Stour comfortably secured a win which gives them vital momentum ahead of Monday's derby with Halesowen Town.

Unsurprisingly, given the importance of the game, Stour were on the front foot immediately and Wright was forced into action inside the opening 30 seconds when, diving to his left, he tipped Leon Broadhurst's low long-range effort round the post.

But that moment was far from a sign of what was to come, being the only time either goalkeeper was seriously tested during a first-half in which neither side were able to master the squally conditions.

On the occasions the hosts did threaten, they found moves frequently breaking down on the edge of the box.

Hawley hooked a shot high and wide on the turn from 20 yards out, while Scarr headed off target from a corner.

Burton's best moments came on a break, though it was a Stour player who came closest for them, as Kristian Green almost netted a spectacular own goal when his tackle on Bradley Barraclough saw the ball deflected wide.

The visitors went closer ten minutes into the second-half during a brief period when the weather gave a brief respite.

Ash Burbeary found space on the right and drove across the face of the Stour goal, his cross flashing just in front of Jamie Green at the far post.

Broadhurst hammered a half volley wide of the upright, before the hosts took the lead in fairly innocuous fashion.

The goal came just minutes after Hackett had made a tactical switch, introducing Tom Tonks as an extra man in midfield.

Tonks promptly had a big hand in the breakthrough, finding Richards whose shot from just inside the box, which may have been intended as a cross, went past a host of bodies before nestling in the far corner of the net.

It was all Stourbridge from that point and, after Hawley had headed over from close range, the second goal duly arrived with 15 minutes to go during a quite breathtaking rainstorm.

Another substitute, Ashley Vincent lofted a ball over the top and Hawley kept his cool to lift the ball over the onrushing Wright and into net.

With two minutes remaining, Scarr added the third, firing home right-footed after Dodd had knocked Geddes' sliced cross back into the centre of the box.

Stourbridge: Gould, Green (Tonks 60), Scarr, Pierpoint, Smikle, Dodd, Broadhurst, Geddes, Lait (Vincent 72), Richards (Bowerman 80), Hawley.

Subs not used: Whittall, Hull.

Buxton: Wright, Bembo-Leta J, Green, Ravenhill (Bembo-Leta F), Salt, Young ©, Burbeary (Doran 83), Harris, Barraclough (Worsfold 72), Wiles, Walker Subs not used: Grayson, Ryan.