Stourbridge 1 Halesowen Town 1 - Report and pictures

The Glassboys found themselves stifled until Bragoli’s weak pass back inside was pounced upon by Greg Mills with the ball breaking for Luke Benbow to emphatically curl around exposed keeper Dan Platt just past the hour.

But Yeltz hit straight back with Lee Hughes finding Ahmed Ali who nudged low across the six-yard box for James Roberts to scramble in at the far post four minutes later.

As legs tired, the odd sniff of an opening drifted into the air but defences remained on top and the spoils were shared.

The Glassboys laboured early on with Rob Thompson-Brown working the first credible opening for Benbow to drive over from 20 yards after the hitman had played his part in a carefully-crafted build-up.

Halesowen’s best moments came from aerial threats and Ali might have done better with a close-range header from a corner nine minutes before the interval.

Thompson-Brown was inches from lighting the blue touch paper four minutes after the interval, lashing fractionally wide a bouncing ball with a shot that caught Platt unaware.

Stourbridge looked far more lively from there with Aaron Hayden flying in to thump over a header under pressure from a fierce Mills centre on the hour.

The deadlock was broken a minute later followed by the swift response and the leveller seemed to take the wind out of Stour sails until added time.

Mills crossed for Aaron Forde to have a downward header pawed away before substitute Brad Birch’s 10-yard rocket got a nick to take it wide.

Teams

Glassboys: Wren, Hayden, Brown, McCone, Duggan (Pierpoint, 68), Forde, Powell (Anderson, 9), Broadhurst, Benbow, Thompson-Brown (Birch, 80), Mills. Unused subs: Westlake, Maher.

Yeltz: Platt, Bragoli (Gilpin, 69), Kelly, Ali, Baker, Charlton, Hurst, Rea (Agustien, h-t), Hughes (Ebanks-Blake, 72), Roberts, Lawton. Unused subs: Goddard, Ekongo.

Attendance: 1,733.