REDDITCH secured their fourth successive West Midlands Division One victory as they saw off visitors Shrewsbury 3-2 on Saturday.
The win lifted the Kingfishers into third place in the table – three points behind top two Market Drayton and Stourport 2nds after six matches – and they will be confident of maintaining their momentum when they visit tenth-placed Edgbaston 3rds on Saturday.
It was an impressive win for a depleted Redditch side who could not field any substitutes and handed a first team debut to youngster Josh Baker.
Redditch made a poor start as Shrewsbury looked the more threatening and the visitors soon went 1-0 up down as Shrewsbury scored from a routine short corner.
The visitors then doubled their lead with another short corner goal before also winning a penalty stroke just before half-time which, crucially, was saved by goalkeeper Joe Cardy.
This was the turning point in the game as in the second half Redditch settled with more possession and began to win some short corners of their own.
One of these was struck by Andy Billingham at the top of the D and saved by the keeper, but Pete Dawson was on hand to slot home the rebound.
The equaliser came midway through the second half as Dawson picked up the ball 25m from goal and skilfully beat two players before firing home from the top of the D.
Shrewsbury continued to threaten the Redditch goal but, for the second weekend running, Harry Williams put in a man of the match performance in defence to help keep the opposition at bay.
With pressure building and legs tiring on both sides, a short corner was deflected home by Jacob Beard – his sixth goal of the season – and the hosts hung on to seal a vital win.
