TIM Flowers insists Redditch United have made a great start to the season despite slipping to their first league defeat of the campaign against Stourbridge.
The Reds saw their unbeaten start come to an end as Jordan Cranston’s penalty drew the Reds level only for the visitors to run out 3-1 winners at the Valley Stadium.
Despite the result, which followed an impressive 2-1 win at Stratford Town, the Reds sit fourth in the Southern League Premier Central table and Flowers heaped praise on his players for their early season efforts.
Flowers said: “It was a war of attrition, in the end I’ve got no real qualms, the quality of the goals we’ve given away are poor.
“Stourbridge will be there or thereabouts, we have to take our medicine, I’m not going to moan and whinge at the players, they’ve given everything they’ve got.
“We’re going at two points a game which is a sensational effort, we’ve had a great start.
“For us to be sitting in the top-five after five games is some effort baring in mind the fixtures we’ve had.
“We’ve got another big-hitter in our division in the FA Cup on Saturday, someone we’ve already had a real tussle against.
“We’ll review the game we played against them, it’s going to be a very difficult game and we’ll give it a go.”
The Reds fell behind on seven minutes as Alex Bradley powered home a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.
However, the home side equalised on 18 minutes when captain Cranston coolly found the bottom left corner from the penalty spot following a handball in the box.
Stourbridge eventually reclaimed the lead on 72 minutes as Dom Lewis fired a shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the penalty area.
And the visitors sealed the points with a minute left to play as Toumani Sidibe finished well when one-on-one with Adam Harrison.
That came after the Reds inflicted a first defeat of the season on Stratford at the Arden Garages Stadium.
Redditch broke the deadlock on 37 minutes when Johnny Johnston controlled Jaiden White’s inch-perfect pass and finished beyond Callum Smith.
And the Reds doubled their lead seven minutes later as Johnston beat Bards goalkeeper Smith to a loose ball near the right touchline and found Alex Cameron who produced a fine finish to avoid a Stratford defender on the line.
The Bards halved the deficit two minutes from time when a short backpass saw Callum Ebanks touch the ball past Harrison who brought down the Bards striker in the box.
And Ebanks stepped up to score the resulting spot kick but it proved too little too late as the Reds held on to claim the points.
Redditch are next in action in the FA Cup against Halesowen Town on Saturday, August 31 with kick-off at 3pm at the Valley Stadium.
