Tenbury United 3 Stone Old Alleynians 2.

TENBURY maintained their promising start to the season in Division 2 of the West Midlands League with a battling home win over Stone at Palmer’s Meadow. This was their third win in five games, more than in the whole of last season.

The Staffordshire side, playing a long-ball game, dominated the first quarter. The United defence soaked up the pressure, apart from once when Stone opened the scoring.

They took the ball around the keeper and fired the ball goalwards. It bobbled over the desperate attempted clearance by Mark Foster.

After looking second-best for most of the half, the home side, who would have been glad to go in just one down at the break, turned the game on its head with two goals. George Pearson was on target twice.

Pearson was on hand to score from the rebound after Ryan Morris had picked the ball up on halfway, raced through to have his shot well-saved by the Stone keeper. Then Morris was tripped up inside the area and Pearson stepped up to convert the resultant penalty.

With Wes Burley, Sam Williams and Paul Smith taking a firm grip of midfield, United got well on top in the second half. They created numerous chances but only converted one. Chris Badlan played Pearson through to complete his hat-trick.

Stone threw caution to the wind and pulled a goal back.