Alvechurch Foundation U18s BA had an opportunity to move back into the title race, should they be able to overcome the stern challenge of Stourbridge U18s. A fascinating tussle between the two clubs in store. Church with the chance to close the gap to just one point between themselves and the visitors. Whereas, the visitors had the chance to move to the summit with victory following Solihull Moors' collapse at the quickly-improving Solihull Academy resulting in a shock and surprise 11-1 defeat away from home.

Stourbridge also lost on Friday night against Kidderminster Harriers with Alvechurch losing at Halesowen Town just 24 hours before. A proper twist in the title race, shock results from the three teams in prime position. With this in mind, it also opened the door for Bryan Allcott's side to have a second chance at trying to chase the top two and haul themselves back into the race for the title.

HOW IT UNFOLDED:
It started horrendously for the Church side, trying to match up their opponents. Inside four minutes, we found ourselves behind. The corner kick was taken short and quickly, the ball then was rolled to the edge of the area for the Stourbridge front-man to come onto and absolutely rifle home past the bodies. A good strike, but poor defending from a Church perspective, and they will know that.

On 18 minutes, we thought we had scored! It was 10x better from the boys, who had taken a while to settle into the crunch clash at the top of the table. We worked an opening following a great passage of play, the best of the game in general. The cross came in and Tom Mawdsley, who has chipped in with a goal across his last three home games came to within an inch of levelling proceedings, but his effort was dragged just the wrong side of the woodwork to deny us.

The pressure was beginning to finally mount a little more on the away side, who had it comfortable for the first 18 minutes. Just eight minutes later, Schwarm picked up the ball before driving into the open space in-front of him and unleashing a vicious effort that was brilliantly closed down by the Stourbridge defence. The ball was diverted out for a corner and from the resulting kick, a header was glanced inches wide past the far right-hand post.

On 29 minutes, a proper sting in the tail for Alvechurch. A floated free-kick picked up speed whilst in the air. It made it awkward for Connor Howe in the Church goal before coming back off the underside of the crossbar. From there on in, it became a mess for the young Church side, who failed to clear it. The ball came back off the post, meaning Stour had now hit the woodwork twice in the span of 5 seconds before the ball was eventually smashed into the net to double the lead.

Two minutes after the second goal, Church had a big chance to pull one back. Josh Harwood managed to keep the ball at his feet flying past three challenges before slipping it to Schwarm in space. He opted to left fly from inside the area forcing the goalkeeper into a smart save high to his left-hand side.

Things went from bad to worse on 37 minutes though. The away team running riot and couldn't believe how easy they were finding it to get past the defence. A shot from a tight angle was saved fantastically down to Howe's right. The striker had a bit of fortune in the fact it rolled straight to him, he took one touch to set himself. His second touch was seeing the ball rattle the back of the net leaving us with a huge mountain to climb in the second period.

Game over, realistically.

Just before the interval, we had the biggest of biggest chances to grab one back and reduce the deficit to two, giving up some hope going into a tough second half of football. Schwarm threaded the ball through effectively allowing Jahvaughn Francis to race clean on goal. He attempted to round the goalkeeper, but the ball bounced back off his foot and out for a goal-kick, wasting a massive chance in a game that really needed a Church goal.

HT: ALVECHURCH 0-3 STOURBRIDGE

Game. Set. Match. At The Break.

If it wasn't already over, it was just ten minutes into the second half. The visitors produced a brilliant switch of play to the corner of the box before the winger produced his own bit of magic, volleying it into the top right-hand corner. One in a million of goals to kill off any hope or chance of mounting an unlikely comeback, anyway.

Saying that, to their credit, the boys continued to push forward and show their character on a tough night at the office.

Francis and Creswick both had chances to grab one back for the hosts. Francis managed to win possession high up the pitch in the Stour half before dragging his effort wide of the mark as he bared down on goal. The second saw the returning Kyron Creswick gallop forward in the channel. He skipped past his marker's challenge, attempted to curl the ball home with the outside of his left boot but the effort skimmed the far hand post leaving their frustrations clear to see.

FT: ALVECHURCH 0-4 STOURBRIDGE