TIM Flowers praised his side’s ‘heroic’ effort after 10-man Alvechurch beat local rivals Bromsgrove Sporting 2-0 to claim the derby day spoils.
Goals from Krystian Pearce and former Sporting loanee Charlie Wragg saw Church come away with the points at the Victoria Ground.
The visitors had Kieran Wakefield sent off on 66 minutes as goalkeeper Ronnie Hollingshead made a string of fine saves to preserve Church’s clean sheet.
And Flowers felt his players put their bodies on the line as the Alvechurch boss claimed a second victory against former club Sporting this season.
Flowers said: “I thought we were really good in the first half, that went completely out of the window in the second half.
“We were fortunate not to concede due to some outstanding defending and heroic goalkeeping, players putting their bodies on the line for the club.
“When we go down to 10-men, we are absolutely down to the bare bones of players, we’re so thin on the ground in terms of our squad.
“It’s something we’ve got to really look at as a football club, whether we can get some bodies in the building to help.
“I’ve asked the players to go into the trenches and win the fight first and embed themselves into the game and they’ve done that.
“Boston are a National League side, it’s a really tough draw, it’s a bit of a free hit for us but we’ll put a side out to cause them problems.”
Church made the perfect start as Pearce looped a header over Charlie Price at the near post from Ethan Sephton’s cross from the right after just three minutes.
And the visitors doubled their lead on 33 minutes when Wragg controlled Price’s poor clearance and coolly found the bottom right corner from just inside the penalty area.
A last-ditch interception from Church defender Archie Crowther denied Ryan Boothe a clear shot on goal from inside the box.
At the other end, Wragg forced Price into a save before Wakefield fired a shot against the outside of the post.
However, Wakefield saw red later in the half after picking up two yellow cards in quick succession.
Soon after, Hollingshead clawed Aaron Roberts’ header to safety before Sporting substitute Fin Holmes blazed a shot over the crossbar from inside the box.
The Rouslers almost halved the deficit only for Luke Rowe’s diving header at the near post to come back off the crossbar.
Hollingshead produced further heroics to first deny Holmes before then diving on Jamie Meddows’ follow-up effort as the ball trickled towards the net.
Sporting continued to pressure the Church goal to no avail as Flowers secured a third straight win and clean sheet since his appointment as Alvechurch boss.
Alvechurch are next in action against Boston United in the FA Trophy on Saturday, December 7 with kick-off at 3pm at the Jakemans Community Stadium.
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