Gresley 0, Halesowen Town 2

HALESOWEN gained three priceless points against mid-table side Gresley, as goals from Christie and Haseley pushed the Yeltz back into the top spot.

Town bounced back from Saturday's 4-3 home defeat against Belper in fine style to return to the top of the table.

There were two changes to the Yeltz side with Nigel Penney taking the place of the absent Tom Tonks, and Brendan Kelly standing in for Asa Charlton.

Halesowen took the lead early on as Ben Haseley was pushed to the ground in the penalty area by Jamie Barrett. Iyseden Christie was easily able to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and put the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

Gresley kept fighting though, with Eric Graves bursting into the Yeltz penalty area only to see his on-target shot well saved by Sargeant on the ten minute mark.

But Halesowen were the more dominant side. Ben Haseley got in behind the Gresley defence but hit the underside of the bar.

However, it wasn’t long before the Yeltz claimed another goal through Ben Haseley. He gathered the ball from the halfway line, ran into the penalty area and slotted the ball easily under Gresley keeper Mats Morch to double Halesowen’s advantage.

The second half proved to be a quiet affair for both sides, as Halesowen went into defensive mode, and Gresley struggled to get through. The best chance of the half came from Gresley when Alex Steadman took the ball round the outstretching hands of Matt Sargeant only top have his attempted shot blocked by Curtis Tilt.

The result saw the Yeltz return to the top of the Northern Premier League Division One South.

Halesowen: Matt Sargeant, Kristian Green, Brendan Kelly, Aaron Forde, Joe Hull, Curtis Tilt, Aaron Griffiths, Nigel Penney, Iyseden Christie (Daniel Waldron 87'), Ben Haseley (Colin Smith 91'), Neil Mackenzie (Tony Chard 91') Unused Subs: Sam Pearson, Asa Charlton.

GRESLEY: Mats Morch, Mitch Hanson (Liam Guest 18'), Lucas Harrison (Zibusiso Nyatito 45'), Marc Strzyzewski, Jamie Barrett, Eric Graves, John Guy, Sam Grice (Michael Lyons 67'), Alex Steadman, Rob Spencer, Paolo Piliero.

Unused Subs: Royce Turville, Dean Withers.