‘A tough one to take’ as Steelmen suffer late heartbreak

A crowd of 1,218 were on hand to see the home side take a first-half lead through Josh Ezewele before the Steelmen stunned their hosts with a second-half fightback.

Dom Perkins, who signed for Corby this week, brought them level before substitute Tristan Matthews put them 2-1 up.

But, as the game ticked into stoppage-time, Max Morris headed the home side level and then Halesowen were awarded a penalty with Jamie Insall converting it to secure a dramatic win.

Attenborough was understandably disappointed by that late drama, although he was left encouraged by what he described as an “outstanding” second-half performance from his team.

“It’s a tough one to take,” the Steelmen boss said.

“I thought in the first half we probably showed them too much respect but, in the second half, I thought we were absolutely outstanding. The changes made the difference. Tristan Matthews and Dan Collins came on and they were too neat and tidy for Halesowen’s midfield three and they got us on the front foot.

“To a man, they were a credit to the club, a credit to me and the coaching staff and a credit to each other. They were brilliant and they handled a good atmosphere and a good side.

“I thought we thoroughly deserved the equaliser and then it’s a brilliant goal for 2-1.

“At that point, you are thinking the worst case scenario would be taking a point from it.

“You have to accept they had a good bit of quality for their second goal but, from there, I will have to look at it again but I felt there was only one person who felt the goalkeeper didn’t get the ball and that was the referee. But he’s the only one that matters.

“It’s a sickener but we have to dust ourselves down quickly because we are back out there on Tuesday (in an away game at Spalding United).

“The result was clearly not what we wanted but the performance was encouraging.”