Stourbridge 1 , Shaw Lane 1

SPIRITED Stourbridge battled to a draw against promotion hopefuls Shaw Lane at the War Memorial Ground.

Luke Benbow levelled for the Glassboys early in the second half to cancel out Alex Byrne's opener.

Stour continued to push for a winner, especially after the visitors were reduced to ten men when Jake Skelton pick up a second booking late on, but they couldn't find a way through.

Stourbridge threw in young keeper Harry Beasley into the clash and the Wolves loanee was soon called into action when pushing away Gavin Rothery's effort after a quick break after just two minutes.

Shaw Lane were the quicker out of the blocks and took the lead just a minute later when Alex Byrne fired home from just inside the area. The shot took a slight deflection off Paul McCone and was past the unsighted Beasley before he could react.

The Glassboys looked short of ideas in difficult conditions as the War Memorial Ground surface start to cut up.

Luke Benbow had a stinging effort blocked on 19 minutes but the hosts struggled to gain momentum with Shaw Lane quick to employ time wasting tactics.

To home side continued to battle though and were suddenly troubling Jake Skelton at the heart of the visiting defence with the pace of Kaiman Anderson and Luke Shearer approaching the half hour mark.

Stourbridge were pushing higher up the pitch and picking up the loose balls as the contest became a more even affair.

However, it was the final third that let them down and they couldn't find a way back before the break.

It took them just a minute into the second period to work a clear opening. Tom Tonks found Leon Broadhurst with a neat through ball but he couldn't beat Eddie Wilczynski from 10 yards out.

Stour weren't left to rue that miss for long, however, as they found a leveller in fortunate circumstances when Luke Benbow's whipped in ball from the right flank somehow deceived Wilczynski and found its way in.

Buoyed by the goal, the Glassboys continued to keep Shaw Lane pegged deep.

Benbow saw a free-kick deflected wide soon after before Connor Gater headed over the bar on the hour mark after Tonk found him with a fine cross from the right.

Rothery saw an effort from range deflected wide from a rare second half attack but the resulting corner nearly saw them go behind again on 66 minutes.

Beasley fumbled the ball in but Aris Christophorou was on hand to block from Nicky Walker.

The young stopper did much better soon after to turn away a powerful drive from Rothery as Shaw Lane momentarily found a second wind.

It was the visitors that looked the more dangerous again after weathering the Stour storm.

But, just as they had taken it up a gear, their task was made harder when Skelton was given his marching orders when picking up a second yellow after halting Benbow's burst down the right flank.

It was Stour left to push for a winner as the contest moved into the last 10 minutes.

Benbow saw a goal bound effort blocked and Gater drilled just wide.

The introduction of the returning Chris Lait offered the home side even more momentum and he forced Wilczynski to tip over a powerful stoppage time drive.

Tonks then turned a half volley agonisingly wide of the far post as they failed to find a winner.

However, despite a draw probably not being enough to rejuvenate their play-off push, the Glassboys showed a lot of character on the back of successive defeats.

Stourbridge: Beasley, Christophorou, Westlake, McCone (c), Pierpoint, Tonks, Shearer (Lait 76), Broadhurst, Benbow, Anderson (Cooke 89), Gater.

Unused subs: Hall, Antonio, Hawk.

Shaw Lane: Wilczynski, Kieran Lugsden, Serrant, Kevin Lugsden, Skelton, Norris (c), Byrne, Picton, Chilaka, Rothery (Pollard 82), Walker.

Unused subs: Reeves, Wright, Gordon, Abadaki.

Att: 514