With Bromsgrove occupying third from bottom place in the league and the Bees looking to narrow the gap between them and fifth placed Chester, the form book suggested that this should be a relatively straight-forward assignment for the visitors.

Instead a 60-point thriller was served up with the Bees just holding out for a try bonus point win after a valiant rearguard action from Bromsgrove that yielded the North Worcestershire side a well deserved two losing bonus points.

It was pretty much one way traffic for the first twenty minutes as the Bees put 17 unanswered points on the scoreboard thanks to two excellent tries, both converted and a penalty by Adam Canning. The first try came from a bullocking run by Bees’ lock Matt Spink and the second, well finished by full back Chris Fensome, was a score oozing in quality.

However with Canning limping off with an injury aggravated by goal kicking and winger Dai Evans also requiring substitution, the Bees were forced into a backline reshuffle. Their problems were to be further compounded by a yellow card for veteran prop Matt Long for collapsing a maul. Bromsgrove sensed an opportunity and a period of sustained pressure was rewarded by a try under the posts for No.8 Sol Dacres. Full back Critchlow slotted the easy conversion and the visitors were back in the mix.

Prop Steffan Thorpe - making his Bees debut with Long in the sin bin - made an immediate impression, firstly coming close to scoring in the corner and then making a crunching tackle on ‘Grove lock Ben Meadows, whose afternoon was brought to a premature end.

Yet it was the home side who were in the ascendency with half time looming, winger Ollie Bache denied in the corner by a rather lucky interception by Fensome. After an eventful first 40 minutes, Bees were 7-17 to the good but Bromsgrove had shown that they were still a side with plenty of grit and more than a dash of panache.

The home side started the second half as brightly as they had ended the first and within 2 minutes they had narrowed the deficit to just three points with a try by scrum half Dave Brazier, duly converted by Critchlow.

This jolted the Bees into action, with replacement centre Rob Connolly off on a barn-storming run from his own 22, resulting in a Bees penalty up field. Petty kicked for touch and the Bees rolling maul – impressive all season – was effective once more with replacement prop Nick Bingham at the bottom of the pile. Petty, who had taken over the kicking duties from the injured Canning, was unable to add the extras but an 8-point margin had been restored.

A second try after 16 minutes from another rolling maul – again scored by Bingham and this time converted by Petty - further extended the visitors’ lead and it seemed that the Bees’ forward power was finally going to prove too much for their hosts. Another superb individual try from Rob Connolly, running a full 80 metres and swatting off at least five tacklers in the process, took the score line to 14-34 after 25 minutes. Seemingly the Bees were “home and hosed”.

Instead supporters - both home and away, enjoying the early spring sunshine - were treated to a thrilling – final 15 minutes with two tries, both converted, bringing Bromsgrove within 6 points of the Bees.

The first was scored by industrious blindside flanker Dave Hughes and, with replacement fly off Cillian Paget increasingly influential, centre Ben Palmer got on the score sheet as well with a well-crafted solo effort. With ‘Grove sniffing an unlikely victory, Petty intercepted a promising backs move but didn’t have the legs to close the game out. Bromsgrove continued to press to the end, but the Bees held on for a 28-34 victory.

Regelation is now all but a mathematical certainty for plucky Bromsgrove and on yesterday’s performance they will be missed in National League 2 North next season. For the Bees, injuries and drained reserves from the previous week’s exertions against Macclesfield perhaps accounted for a somewhat below par performance.

Next Saturday (22nd March) the Bees entertain Caldy at Portway, kick off 2pm.

Teams:-

Bromsgrove – Critchlow (4C), Bastock, Palmer (T), Smith, Bache, Higgins, Brazier(T), Dacres (T), Crane, Hughes (T), Meadows, Smith, Salisbury, Tsang and Norris. Replacements – Eversham, Belmonte, Woodward, Davies and Paget.

Birmingham & Solihull – Fensome (T), Evans, Oliver, Johns, Elvers, Canning (P, 2C), Petty (1C), Leach, Scriven, Stephens, Goddard, Spink (T), Long, Radburn ©, Koziot. Replacements - Boyce, Bingham (2T), Thorpe, Connolly (T) and Jolly.

Referee – Dr. Max Marsden