BOSS Paul Gazzard was left to rue a familiar Achilles heel as Bashley conceded a sloppy second-half goal en route to a 4-1 defeat at Stourbridge.

Bottom club Bash had surprised their promotion-chasing hosts by going into the interval on level terms after Scott Joyce's opportunist strike cancelled out Sean Geddes's 23rd-minute opener at a windswept Amblecote.

Joyce pounced on a moment of hesitancy from home defender Will Richards to dart in and coolly finish beyond the advancing Dean Coleman but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

Bash found themselves overrun at the far post nine minutes after the restart as Kayelden Brown planted home Geddes's swinging ball from the wing.

Ben Billingham ended his driving run with a rasping third on the hour before Bash had defender Dave Marden dismissed for a second bookable offence with 15 minutes to go.

A facial injury to defender Sam Roberts then forced Bash to play goalkeeper Monty George, who turned 17 on Wednesday, as an outfield substitute for the final two minutes.

The Glassboys added gloss to the scoreline when Leon Broadhurst netted number four from close range in added time but Gazzard was insistent the game had turned on Brown's tap in at the start of the second half.

Bashley's joint-manager told the Daily Echo: “We knew we would have to be at our best to get anything and the lads showed great character in the first half. We were well in the game.

“The dressing room was buzzing at half-time because we knew we had matched them for the most part. We had been competitive and didn't allow them to settle properly. While they created a few openings, we stood up to them pretty well.

“But, we were up against the elements in the second half and it all came down to one very soft goal after half-time. When they scored it killed us.

“They had two spare men at the back post which was such a disappointing way to let them score. You could see from the reaction of the players that they knew it as well and it was a killer blow we never really came back from.”

Bash: Jones, Morris (Bulpitt, 65), Roberts (George, 88), Ansell, Marden, Strickland, Blackmore, Soetan, Joyce, Odam, Manders (Brookes, 72). Unused sub: Gazzard.