ASSISTANT manager Jon Ford has hailed the resilience of Stourbridge's players after they claimed their third consecutive league win.

The Glassboys made it three on the bounce with a hard-fought 3-2 away win over Nantwich on Tuesday night.

The victory followed last Saturday's 2-1 home success over Frickley and the previous week's 4-0 away win against Belper.

However, as with the Frickley game, Stour had to battle for the points after going down to ten men at Nantwich.

Ford said: "This is a very resilient squad. They have shown that over the last few games. We were up against it but the way the players stood up to it was fantastic.

"They worked really hard and in the end created the better chances and deserved to win."

Against Nantwich, George Bowerman came in for his debut on loan from Accrington Stanley, and Andre Francis was drafted in for the unavailable Chris Knight, whilst injuries and other availability problems meant manager Gary Hackett could name only four substitutes, including youth team striker Lewis McPike.

The match had an explosive start when a poor touch by Francis saw the defender lunge at Kyle Blake in an over-enthusiastic attempt to win back the ball, and the referee had no hesitation in producing a red card to leave Stourbridge with an uphill task.

However, it was the Glassboys who drew first blood on 12 minutes when Paul McCone rose highest to head home Drew Canavan's corner.

Stourbridge gave themselves breathing space with their first attack of the second half on 53 minutes, Bowerman tenaciously battling for the ball in the area before calmly picking his spot beyond Anderson.

The Dabbers finally grabbed a lifeline on 82 minutes when a long clearance from Anderson seemed to catch the Stourbridge defence off guard and Aaron Burns was able to lift the ball over the exposed Coleman.

Stourbridge were now relying on breakaways to relieve the pressure and from one such on 86 minutes, Jordan Fitzpatrick released Reece Hales who confidently slotted past Anderson from the edge of the area to restore the two-goal advantage.

Nantwich were not finished, however, and in the final minute of the scheduled 90, Burns found a peach of a finish to curl a shot beyond the reach of Coleman. Four minutes of added time followed but the home side were unable to test Coleman again as the Glassboys rose to ninth in the table.

They will now have a break from league action when taking on Carlton away on Saturday in the FA Trophy.

Jordan Fitzpatrick and Will Richards will both be missing through suspension but Leon Broadhurst and Chris Knight could return.