MIKE Fowler heaped praise on teenage starlet Omari Brown after the youngster scored his first senior goal in Redditch United’s 1-1 derby draw against Bromsgrove Sporting.
Brown came off the bench to draw Redditch level just three minutes after his introduction at the Victoria Ground.
That came after Tyrone Lewthwaite’s penalty put Sporting ahead just past the hour mark while Redditch had Luke Ward sent off after just 29 minutes.
The result leaves Redditch fifth in the Southern League Premier Central table, three points clear of the chasing pack in the race for a play-off place.
United are now unbeaten in eight games against the Rouslers and Fowler believes the Reds would have extended their seven-match winning run against Sporting if his side had kept 11 players on the pitch.
Fowler said: “I’m delighted in the end, I thought we were good value for the draw having played with 10-men for 70-odd minutes.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my boys and my team. The shift they put in, we had to sink in and really work hard, shuffle, slide – all the things I’ve been asking for the last four months.
“We equalised and we hit the bar with 10-men and it’s their goalkeeper slowing it down in the last minute and the ref is asking him to hurry up which is beyond [me].
“Omari has been outstanding this season. He’s scored a lot of goals for the under-19s. He works harder than anyone on the pitch and is very awkward to play against.
“He’s not aesthetically pleasing at times with the ball but he chose the right time to be aesthetically pleasing. He probably deserved to start.
“I’m absolutely delighted for him and that’s the beauty of what we do here as a football club. We give young lads opportunities. You trust them and they repay you.
“We watched the red card back in real time, there were a couple of tackles starting to fly in, our player stumbles, there’s a kid underneath him.
“That same player won the penalty diving, he spent the whole game diving and the referee fell for it. In my opinion, not a red card.
“I’ve got no doubt that with 11 men we would have won the game. They still haven’t beat us and they can’t beat us with 10-men.”
As tackles began to fly in, the referee brandished a straight red card to Ward after he tangled with Jordan Lyden close to the Bromsgrove penalty area.
And Sporting made the most of the extra man on 63 minutes when Lewthwaite confidently scored from 12-yards out after Lyden went to ground in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.
However, the Reds equalised from the resulting corner as the ball eventually made its way to O Brown who fired a shot into the left corner of the goal from 15-yards out.
Redditch are next in action against Worcester City on Saturday, January 3 with kick-off at 3pm at the Valley Stadium.
