Experience triumphs over Youth in Crucial Home Win

Great performances from all players resulted in the Sils beating 2nd placed Bournville, and moving clear of the relegation zone.

The first half saw the home side creating the better chances, with the wind-assisted aerial attack from Joe Price proving very effective, with Adam Kent and Mo Hadian both going close. At the other end, Patrick O'Malley made two outstanding saves to deny the visitors.

With all to play for at half-time, with the score at 0-0, and the Sils sensing there was definitely points in the game for them, the Copt Heath outfit changed their attacking style to short crisp passes as they attacked into the wind. 3 minutes into the second half, and the Sils had their breakthrough. For the first time Mo Hadian managed to get outside his man, and his superb run down the right wing ended up in a perfect ball being pulled back to Adam Kent to allow him to slot home from a few yards.

Five minutes later, and the Sils were 2-0 up. Nick Oppenheimer picked up the ball on the left wing, danced passed his marker, and cut inside. His pass picked out Adam Kent in the D, who deftly flicked the ball towards the goal, only to see the Bournville GK getting his toe end to the ball to make the save. However, Oppenheimer was still running (just about) and picked the ball up on the edge of the D, now with an empty net to fire into. Combined age of the 2 goalscorers = 100 years!

25 minutes to go to try and keep a clean sheet and take home the 3 points.

The defence was being marshalled excellently by Neil Mortimer, who was reading the game expertly, and in front of him Captain Mark Dovey and former Captain Elliott Goulding were stopping the two danger men from the visitors from being able to pull the midfield strings.

Bournville did score direct from a Penalty Corner with around 12 minutes to go, but with Hadian and Kent doing a good job of releasing the Bournville pressure by attacking with purpose themselves, and Gary Perkins and James Ball both putting in good shifts down the flanks, the Sils wrapped up the 3 points with a 2-1 victory.