Payton praises battling Bewdley (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Payton praises battling Bewdley

8:00am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Sportsview

JOINT Bewdley Town boss Craig Payton hailed his players after a defiant display in Saturday’s FA Vase loss to Rocester.

The Ribbesford Meadow side had stood up well to their opponents from the level above for an hour before three goals in 11 minutes shot them down.

Rocester scored another late on as Town suffered a 4-0 loss.

But Payton could not fault the attitude of his players or their efforts but was ruing an injury to Ollie Smith early on which forced Bewdley to change their plans.

He said: “The lads were brilliant and for an hour we held them.

“In the end we made a couple of mistakes and they scored three quick goals so we were chasing the game after that.

“Losing Ollie Smith after 15 minutes was a big set back.

“He’s very quick and we’d built the team around him but unfortunately he pulled his groin stretching for the ball.

“You’ve got to give Rocester a lot of credit to, their manager had to change things around in the first-half because they weren’t coping with Chris Hough’s power.”

Town also saw Tuesday night’s Worcester Infirmary Cup clash at Bridgnorth called off because of a waterlogged pitch.

They resume action in the West Midlands League Premier Division with two games against high-flying Black Country sides.

They go to fourth-paced Cradley Town on Saturday who have lost just twice in the league all season.

On Tuesday night, Town entertain a third-placed Lye side (7.45pm ko) which are unbeaten in five games.

Payton said: “We’ve got two very tough games coming up.

“It will be close at Cradley who are having a really good season.”

Ninth-placed Bewdley have games in hand over almost all the sides above them in the table.