A VERY young Rovers side put up a creditable performance against more experienced opponents at Hednesford's ground last night.

Coach Terry Darracott was particularly pleased by their second-half response after going in 3-1 down at the interval.

"I felt there was cause for a lot of optimism in the performance," he said.

"We had some chances and had we only defended better in the first half we would have been much more in the game."

After Birmingham took the lead, youngsters Leam Richardson and Ben Burgess carved out an equaliser. Richardson charged down the right, put in a good cross and Burgess rose at the far post to score with an excellent header.

Poor defending, however, let the home side grab two more and control of the game.

The most pleasing feature was that Rovers, including a couple of Pontin's League debutants, did not fold and held their own - Gary Hamilton being just wide with a header.

ROVERS: Flowers, Richardson, Brown, Howson, Murphy, McAvoy, Scates (sub Douglas 60 mins), D Dunning, Fitzpatrick (sub Woodfield 80 mins), Burgess, Hamilton. Subs not used, Ryan, R Dunning, Stewart.

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