Bromsgrove Sporting 0 Stourbridge 1 - Report

Mills bagged his first goal of the season with the 48th-minute winner, collecting Will Grocott’s pass on the inside right of the penalty area and switching the ball to his right foot to fire low past keeper Tony Breeden.

Victory could have been more emphatic for the Glassboys, with Mike Taylor twice wasting one-on-one chances, but Sporting really forced them to defend in the final 20 minutes despite having defender Joe Hull sent off and manager Brendan Kelly sent to the stands.

But Stourbridge boss Long, fully aware of the club’s previous Cup heroics under previous boss Gary Hackett, was just pleased to get through to Monday’s second qualifying round draw.

“That little bit of quality from Millsy made the difference,” said Long. “It was a well-taken goal after we had four or five passes inside their 18-yard box at a time when I thought we were having our best spell in the game.

“We’re still a work in progress and there was a lot in the performance I wasn’t happy with but it’s all about getting through to the next round and we did that.”

League rivals Sporting, however, started with plenty of vigour and Glassboys keeper James Wren was the busier in the early stages, blocking a Nathan Hayward shot and flying through the air to grab Hull’s header.

But the visitors had the best opportunities in the first half, with Taylor’s dangerous cross being cleared by Jack Wilson and then Taylor’s sloppy first touch from Grocott’s pass squandering the chance as Breeden advanced.

Sporting boss Kelly was sent off by Paul Stonier just before half-time after dissent to the assistant referee and after Mills scored Taylor should have made it 2-0 on the hour but again he let the hosts off the hook.

That signalled a late Sporting charge, despite Hull being red-carded on 79 minutes for pulling back Taylor for a second yellow. They thought they had an equaliser, only for Shaquille McDonald to fire into the side-netting and then Wren grabbed Charlie Dowd’s shot at the second attempt on the goalline before Shorrock’s header was saved in the final seconds.

Teams

Bromsgrove: Breeden, Westwood (Gregory 75), Wilson, Hayward, Braodhurst (Taylor 61) Hull, Dowd, Quaynor, McDonald, Thompson-Brown (Pykett 62), Shorrock. Subs: Jono Brown; Massey, Rankin, Perry.

Stourbridge: Wren, Green, Jordaan Brown, Carter, Fisher, Turton, Bellis, Winwood, Taylor (Lloyd 79), Grocott (Tonks 73), Mills (Botfield 84). Subs: Price, Landell, Cook, Tilt.