The longest away day of the season was finally upon Alvechurch as they set for the East-coast of England in Lowestoft Town. This trip was the first game of 2025 for Tim Flowers' men, who had to wait patiently for two weeks to see a football pitch again. Having picked up a point at the death away at Biggleswade Town in their final outing of 2024, Flowers and his troops were now provided with an opportunity to jump out of the relegation zone with all three points.

The hosts had enjoyed more football in 2025 than their visitors. Their most recent game of football ending in a 4-3 win away at Church' local rivals Redditch United, having come from 2-0 down to rescue the three points - they were confident they could do the same to a fellow Worcestershire based side. A win for the home side would see them extend their gap between us and them to six points. So all to play for at the Fosters Solicitors Community Stadium.

HOW IT UNFOLDED:
On what felt like a spring evening, it was the hosts to get us underway... what followed was remarkable!

The referee's whistle sounded and the Lowestoft forward played it back to his fellow team-mate, who in-turn, set the ball for his centre-back partner to come on to it and lump it up the field. However, those two were not on the same page at all allowing Allen-Hadley to use his blistering pace to latch onto the loose pass. Our forward took the ball in his stride and slotted under the goalkeeper to give us the earliest of leads I think anyone would have ever witnessed. The goal clocked at 6.2 seconds become the 30th quickest-goal across the entire world, placing him in company with AC Milan star, Rafeao Leao! Remarkable, indeed.

That start really set the tone for the rest of the match. One that Lowestoft will have regrets about and one that Church would have been craving in their first outing of the new year.

In the seventh minute, Church had come close on two separate occasions! The first saw Sam Perry slide Ethan Sephton into the left-hand channel, nearing the edge of the area. Sephton delivered a wonderful cross into the box and all it needed was a touch to take it over the line but no-one in green could get the decisive touch. Then, Omari Sterling-James delayed the pass before eventually picked out an eye-of-the-needle pass feeding Ammar Dyer through on goal. Our wing-back took the strike on and was inches away from the far bottom left-hand corner!

Not too much in the way of chances for the hosts, who were really feeling the effects of that first goal - it seemed to suck the life out of them, and they were having a hard time of it but Church' pressure continued, hoping to add a second to put some daylight between the two sides.

On 32 minutes, the away side's evening was going from strength to strength. A cross was teased into the area, the home team were only able to clear their lines to the edge of the box and Joe Willis, the hero in Church' last away day, took the ball into his path. He shifted it out of his feet to unleash a strike, which took a slight deflection, wrong-footing the goalkeeper and on its way into the net!

HT: LOWESTOFT 0-2 ALVECHURCH

The second 45 minutes continued where the first-half finished. Tim demanding more from his group of players and ensuring that the game would be killed off early doors.

50 minutes on the clock, and he got what he was after! A wicked corner delivery from the boot of Sterling-James caused chaos inside the penalty area. Captain, Krystian Pearce, leaped the highest, got his head on the ball. The goalkeeper managed to keep it out from point-blank range but jogging on the spot was Allen-Hadley, who got the final touch to take it over the line and make sure of all three points.

Church' relentlessness didn't show no signs of slowing down either as they hunted more goals to make it an emphatic victory but also help the goal difference as they climb the table. Two big chances in the span of four minutes flashed by. Perry flicked the ball into the path of Allen-Hadley, who was chasing a hat-trick, but his shot was saved by the goalkeeper down to his left. The second opportunity to make it four fell the way of Archie Crowther. Our defender found himself in acres of space inside the box, he took it on from the angle forcing the goalkeeper into another smart save.

Into the final 20 minutes and Church' fourth goal just didn't want to come for them. This time, the ball bobbled up perfectly for Sterling-James to hit on the volley. His wonderful, dipping strike was heading into the top left-hand corner but the opposition goalkeeper produced a magnificent stop with his fingertips to deny our winger.

But the fourth goal of the evening did arrive on 73 minutes. The night was turning into the stuff of dreams. A cross into the box from Sterling-James was deflected. However, it had enough pace on it for Crowther to guide it over the top of the goalkeeper following a huge loop, before landing into the back of the net and wrapping up a wonderful three points, sending Flowers' men back to Worcestershire with happy faces!

FT: LOWESTOFT 0-4 ALVECHURCH