Halesowen 1, Belper 1

HALESOWEN Town continued their solid start to the life in the Northern Premier League with a hard-fought draw against fellow new boys Belper Town.

Both sides cancelled each other out for large parts of tonight's contest at The Grove.

After a slow start, Halesowen opened the scoring when Elliot Turner met a Peter Till cross from the right flank on 11 minutes.

He hit a controlled finish past Belper keeper James Martin.

It then took until the end of the first half for the game to spring to life.

The visitors were handed a chance to equalise after the referee adjudged that Daniel Bragoli had handled inside the area, even though the contact with the ball looked far from deliberate.

However, Jonathan Froggatt saw his spot kick saved by Matthew Sargeant in the Hales goal.

But It didn't take long for Belper to have the ball in the net.

From the penalty save, Belper kept the ball alive well. When Froggatt headed a cross back across goal, Colin Marrison was the first to react to draw his side level at the break.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first as both teams matched each other for long spells.

Halesowen did have to weather a period of pressure mid-way through the second half as they droped deeper and deeper as Belper threw more high balls into the box.

The Yeltz's chance to take all three points was passed up by Ben Haseley with just five minutes left on the clock. He headed an Asa Charlton cross wide of the target when unmarked at the far post.

The result leaves newly-promoted Halesowen unbeaten after two games at a higher level but still in search of their first win of the campaign.

Halesowen: Sargeant, Green, Charlton, Forde (Mackenzie 74), Hull (c), Tilt, Bragoli, Turner (Tonks 73), Thompson-Brown (Kettle 84), Haseley, Till. Unused subs: Griffiths, Pearson.

Belper Town: Martin, Jones, Bennett, Ross, Edridge, White, Marrison, Warne (c), Froggat, Wells (Ward 67), Stevenson (Cole 71). Unused subs: Harrison, Pride, Low. Att: 436