by Peter Scherer
After 11 successive wins, the 100% record finally went at Bromsgrove Sporting, when an Oli Greaves penalty made sure Mickleover came home with a point and still undefeated.
Starting line-up: 1-Oliver Bosworth 2-Jake Bennett 3-Ryan Wilson 4-Wii Atkinson 5-Fin Delap 6-Ethan Mann 7-Andy Dales 8-Joe Bateman 9-Stuart Beavon 10-Ben Sault 11-Oli Greaves. Subs: Dan Bradley, Callum Chettle, Rhys Dolan, Fin Ryder, Brandon Ferron.
From the kick off Mickleover quickly eased into their usual possession game, and were on top for the opening 10 minutes, without creating any real opportunity.
But Tee then found Cooper in the visitors attack, but he failed to get his shot in before the danger was eliminated.
Only a minute later Mickleover had their first real attempt on goal, but the final shot blazed over the bar following short corner.
With Greaves, Dales and Sault in midfield, there was no shortage of pace to test the home defence. After 17 minutes there was a Sports break, but a last gasp tackle from Solademi came to the rescue for Bromsgrove.
Despite Mickelover remaining on top in possession, Bromsgrove still looked for the break, and Tee got on the end of one after 28 minutes, only to shoot wide.
Into the final third of the first half Bromsgrove seemed to gain confidence and Bosworth was forced into save low down from another Cooper effort, before a free kick only a minute later saw Cooper slide in to put the ball just past the post.
Cooper did get the ball in the net after 36 minutes but was flagged offside, but as the half fizzled out, it remined 0-0 at the half time whistle.
With both Barnes and Wright missing, Beavon’s hard work up front had failed to trouble the home defence to any consequence, and despite winning hands down in possession, the door was still well open for Bromsgrove to spring a second half surprise.
Another Mickleover corner after 50 minutes, but after being initially cleared, the follow up was just wide. But the push was on to break the deadlock, with Solademi turning away another Mickelover corner, which then set up a Bromsgrove break, which also came to nought,
The deadlock was finally broken 67 minutes in, when Keanu Cooper gave the hosts a 0-1 lead. Their glory was shortlived however, when only five minutes later the referee pointed to the spot and Greaves stepped up to make it 1-1.
Bateman picked up a yellow card after 77 minutes and Bradley came on for Bennett for the last 10 minutes. Bromsgrove had one more chance when Cooper burst through, but Lekuti’s shot was blocked, so it remained 1-1 and our first points of the season were dropped.
We now look to our visit to Kettering on Saturday to return to winning ways.