On a beautiful day in Derbyshire, Church arrived at the War Memorial Ground looking to bounce back from their disappointment on home turf a week earlier against St. Ives Town and aiming to reach the second round of the Isuzu FA Trophy for the first time since 2021.

HOW IT UNFOLDED...
The hosts got the game underway and it was the away side, who made a lightning-fast start to the encounter.

An incredible start to the game. Richards' out-swinging ball to the wide area was latched onto by Kieran Wakefield. The tricky forward managed to beat his marker to the ball. His continued drive towards goal had its rewards as he advanced into the 18-yard box before setting it on a plate for Ammar Dyer, who rifled home a low driven-effort into the corner to give us the lead and give Dyer his second away goal in a row.

Church were looking very dangerous on the counter and looking to add a second to a dominant first-half showing.

On 12 minutes, we came within a whisker to doubling the lead. Omari Sterling-James picked the ball up in the heart of midfield, drove into the advancing space in-front of him. He opened up the Stour defence with a splitting pass that allowed Wakefield time to venture forward and push the hosts further back. As the gaps began to open up further, he opted to take the strike on from the edge of the area and he was inches away from finding the bottom right-hand corner but went the wrong side of the post.

For a long spell of the next twenty minutes, the game became very tense and nervy as both sides tried to settle on the ball on a very heavy pitch.

However, we did have another TWO chances to increase the advantage before the break. With the game 44 minutes old, a long ball wasn't dealt with properly by the shaky home defence before Sterling-James advanced forward. The attacking midfielder struck a beautiful dipping effort towards goal which clipped the top of the crossbar and landed on the top of the net.

One additional minute added on and Church really should have been heading into the interval with a second goal. Into injury time at the end of the half, Alvechurch were devastating on the counter-attack all half but found themselves in a great position. Sterling-James had Wakefield and Perry in support on the break. The influential midfielder chose the latter. Perry's curling effort trickled the wrong side of the mark from inside the penalty area.

HT: STOURBRIDGE 0-1 ALVECHURCH

At the interval, the travelling side would have been frustrated with themselves that they weren't even further ahead in this cup tie. James Fry and his staff clearly doing their homework from a few weeks ago as we were causing Stour all sorts of problems all afternoon so far. It was all about going again now and seeing out the tie to get into the hat for the next round.

Seen in most games this season, when ahead, we have become a very stubborn team to face and a very resilient defensive showing again from the Church.

Majority of the second period was dominated by the home side without really troubling Ronnie Hollingshead in goal. Our defence standing up to the pressure being thrown at us. It took the hosts half an hour in the second half to get their first effort off. A huge let-off for the away side as we didn't deal with the cross and the acrobatic attempt from Stour went just over the top of the crossbar.

Two minutes after their effort, Alvechurch went in search of a second. On 77 minutes, Sterling-James was brought down in a fantastic position. From the free-kick, the man who was brought down took the strike on and his effort cannoned back off the crossbar and unfortunately for Archie Crowther, it just evaded his foot having taken a bobble up off the surface.

As we approach the final ten minutes, the side from Worcestershire needed a big save from Hollingshead to maintain our lead. A defence splitting pass saw the attacker latch onto it and his effort was denied by the smothering goalkeeper, who made himself big and used his out-stretched leg to push it wide.

The admin was having a nerve-shattering end to the contest as Church still couldn't kill the cup tie. With four minutes left before stoppage time, Wakefield was set through on goal by Perry. He had no support alongside him, so he went alone and his well-drilled effort towards goal from the angle was matched brilliantly by a good save. Luckily for Church, that was that and we progress.

FT: STOURBRIDGE 0-1 ALVECHURCH

A resolute, resilient and dogged performance from Alvechurch on the road. Their first away game of five ends in a win, which means we have now officially equalled our number of away wins from last season already. We're only in October. Six wins on the road and we still have another four in the coming weeks.

James Fry' men march on in the Isuzu FA Trophy and now await Monday's draw to see who they will face in the second round.