Swindon Supermarine 1

Match Gallery

“Ashley has been working away up north in Blackpool recently and it means he hasn’t been able to train in the week,” he revealed. “Because of that he’s had to settle for a place on the bench. “But that work is coming to an end very soon so hopefully things will be different from now on. “Ashley is different to our other players because he’s very quick, brave and direct. He wins a lot of lost causes and his energy and work-rate are second to none. “There’s three or four players who are getting frustrated about being on the bench, and Ashley is one of them, but they will all get their chance. It’s a long season ahead and there’s still a lot of football to be played.”

Stourbridge, who are struggling near the foot of the table, made the brighter start and saw Nathan Bennett’s first-minute effort ruled out for offside. They suffered a major set-back after being reduced to 10 men on 13 minutes following a two-footed challenge by Ashley Robinson on Marine centre-half Leigh Henry, but continued to press and keeper Matt Bulman did well to turn away Drew Canavan’s long-range strike.

Stourbridge broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when Sam Rock and Ashley Langford combined to set up Leon Broadhurst, who finished off the cross, but Marine responded with some heavy pressure as Kyle Lapham and Edenborough both missed chances. It looked as though Stourbridge were going to hold on for all three points, but super-sub Edenborough popped up in the 86th minute to grab a share of the spoils.

The result lifts Supermarine up to second place in the division, and Collier admitted: “The table makes nice reading. “But we’re in a very tough, competitive league and we know that a couple of poor results could see us fall right back into mid-table. “At the start of play you would have said it was two points lost, but the way the game went and how late we scored it was probably a point gained. “We were worthy of the draw. They hit us on the break and scored when we were sloppy in possession. “But we pushed and kept pressing and pressing, and eventually got our rewards with the goal from Ashley.”

From a Stourbridge perspective...

STOUR GO SO CLOSE AT SUPERMARINE

A tremendous battling performance from the Glassboys so nearly yielded three points despite the 13th minute sending-off of Ashley Robinson for a two-footed challenge. Although left to play the remainder of the game a man light, we rose to the challenge as we maintained two banks of four with Sam Rock operating as a lone striker.

After a goal-less first-half we grabbed the lead on 59 minutes when Sam Rock and debutant Ashley Langford combined down the right to open up the home defence and leave Leon Broadhurst in the middle with a straightforward finish.

The hosts who came into the game lying 3rd in the table looked to hit back with Leigh Henry seeing his shot squeeze past the far post in the 65th minute, while a glancing header from Kyle Lapham drew a superb diving save from Lewis Solly. We almost doubled our lead however in the 75th minute when Langford slipped the ball through to Drew Canavan and although his low shot beat keeper Matt Bulman, Chris Thompson was on hand to clear off the line.

In a dramatic finale Nick Stanley lifted the ball over the bar from the close range, but the home side snatched an equaliser four minutes into stoppage time with Ash Edenborough getting on the end of a high, hanging cross to send a close range header past Solly to leave the Glassboys deflated after such a determined display.