Coming into the encounter, Church were looking to put an end to the run of consecutive defeats at home and climb back up the very tightly contested Southern League table. The away side took six points from six against The Church last season including a comeback victory at Lye Meadow. Nick Clayton-Phillips' goal had the hosts on their way but a rally in the second half to win 4-1 in the end. The home team today were out to do two things. Stop the rot and perhaps find a little bit of revenge.

In the last six to seven weeks, we have become accustomed to a tight and cagey affair. In recent home games, Stamford and Stourbridge have walked away with three points with a single goal separating the two sides. On Saturday, Alvechurch fell on the wrong side of another 1-0 defeat despite dominating the possession and having more final third entries to creating more chances. It was another one of them days for Church, who were left frustrated on a day of poor officiating.

James Fry was left angered and frustrated with a few decisions against his side, which altered the outcome of the result. A sending-off for Church, toppled with a clear penalty being waved away added to the supporters' and the Church' hopes of nudging themselves in-front. But, Ives had other ideas as they broke away on the counter-attack to finish off calmly inside the 18-yard box and condemn the hosts to another disappointing afternoon on home turf.

Back to the drawing board to put a few things right before a trip to rivals Stourbridge in the Isuzu FA Trophy next weekend.