MOORS’ ADI HITS THE SPOT

SOLIHULL M 2 BRAINTREE Daly 38, Yussuf 77 (pen) T 1 Henry 22

SOLIHULL MOORS boss Tim Flowers admitted winning was all that mattered after he saw his side edge out basement club Braintree thanks to a late penalty.

The visitors had taken the lead against the run of play midway through the first half and it needed a Liam Daly header and an Adi Yussuf spot-kick 11 minutes from time to secure the win.

“It doesn’t matter how you win at this stage,” the Moors boss said. “On another day we could have been coming in three or four up, but we just weren’t clinical enough.

“Braintree were game and you can see why they won at Sutton; they had a lot of commitment and courage, were well organised and gave us a tough examination.

“We’ve had to fight our way from going behind which isn’t easy but we bounced back from another set play – a great ball in and a great header from Liam – and then we said to stay patient because something would drop for us. And it was a penalty that won us the game.”

The first half was one-way traffic for long periods and yet it was the visitors who opened the scoring midway through the half. With the Moors defence waiting for the referee to blow for offside, Korrey Henry took advantage to stroll past keeper Ryan Boot and roll the ball into the empty net.

Solihull looked for an instant reply, but Danny Wright’s header skimmer the top of the crossbar and Nathan Blissett had an effort deflected behind for a corner.

Then, seven minutes before the interval, Darren Carter’s free-kick picked out the towering Daly who crashed his header past visiting keeper Ben Killip.

Further Moors pressure followed after the break, but when Alex Gudger saw his header cannon off the crossbar it looked as though the Damson Park outfit would be denied the three points needed to keep their title hopes on track.

But then, with 11 minutes to go, Yussuf and Killip collided inside the area and referee Leigh Doughty awarded the home side a penalty, which Yussuf calmly tucked away to wrap up the points.

“We knew it was going to be tough just because of the pure difference in physicality between the two sides,” Iron boss Danny Searle said. “When we played them earlier in the season we just got bullied, but the players did well today and stuck to the game plan within reason.

“We had to roll our sleeves up, but our quality of delivery wasn’t great and our decision-making was poor at times.”

STAR MAN: Terry Hawkridge (Solihull) ATT: 1,003 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Leigh Doughty (6/10)