HALESOWEN Town will be aiming to move into the Southern League Premier Central play-off spots on Saturday in the ‘No9 derby’.
The Yeltz go to Stourbridge sitting just two points outside the top five after beating Alvechurch 2-0 at The Grove on Tuesday.
Jason Cowley added another two goals to his tally for the season in a match-winning second-half display.
In contrast, the Glassboys are eight points away from safety – and lie in the relegation zone.
But Halesowen boss Russ Penn is taking nothing for granted, knowing the form book means little in a derby.
Penn told the club’s X page: “We’ll be missing Jason. which is big for us because he’s playing out of his skin at the moment.
“I don’t think form comes into anything on the day, especially the No9 Derby.
“It’ll be hostile, it’ll be a fantastic crowd and we’ll be followed by as many as we can be.
“And we’ve got a show them respect.
“We’ll go there in good form and we’re looking forward to it, but I’m glad the Alvechurch game’s out of the way because I’ve had too many people talking about Stourbridge going this was done, so it shows you the professionalism of the lads.
“But we’ll be going there to win, if you put results together, you can move up this table very quickly. So, we’ve got to be relentless now.”
Alvechurch boss Tim Flowers admitted he was frustrated by the result – with his side nine points off the play-off spots.
He told the club’s YouTube channel: “I sound like a cracked record, we should’ve scored with our first attack – it was a gilt-edged chance, we have to score.
“In the second half, we looked comfortable but we had another chance to score.
“We then conceded from a corner. The centre half won their man of the match in a 2-0 win.
“But we can’t score a goal and I’m sick of saying it.
“Six or seven weeks ago, we were second in the table. But since then, we’ve not scored in a run where we haven’t won. It’s a car crash as far as the stats are concerned.
“It mirrors last season, we can’t see the wood for the trees. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Stourbridge went down 3-2 at Worcester City who went ahead through Kyle Belmonte after eight minutes.
Zidan Sutherland levelled for the Glassboys with a 39th minute penalty.
But Dan Sweeney took charge with two second half goals – with Jenson Sumnall scoring a stoppage time consolation.
Bromsgrove Sporting went down 3-0 at Banbury United.
