STOURPORT Men earned the bragging rights by defeating Old Halesonians 5-4 in the Midlands Division One.

The Wyre Forest side had raced to a 3-0 lead before half time thanks to a hat-trick from Chris Hill, who was in form against his old club.

Phil Baldwin bagged a fourth before Old Hales scored an effort from a penalty flick-in a goal-laden first half.

Stourport could have believed that they would go on to extend their advantage in the second half.

But it wasn’t to be as the home side battled back to level with only five minutes of the game remaining.

With the game finely balanced and Stourport reduced to ten men after a yellow card for defender Andy Cavendish, it took seasoned campaigner David Knott to draw upon his experience to beat the Old Hales ‘keeper with two other defenders on the line and his skilful finish handed the spoils to Stourport.

That means Stourport go into the last two games of the first half of the season on top of the Warwick Print sponsored Midlands Division One.

This weekend, in their penultimate game before the festive break, they play Worcester, a side that were unbeaten up until last weekend when they came unstuck against Stone.

With a couple of ex-Stourport players now with Worcester, it makes for an interesting 70 minutes. The start time is 1.45pm at the Kingsway in Stourport.