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Writer - Ben Ditchfield
After the missery of last weekends thumping defeat at the hands of Bedford Town, the Yeltz had a spring in their step and put in a much needed performance as they beat St Ives 1-0 at the Grove.
Conor Tee and Kieren Donnelly were the keys to the lock in what was a rejuvenated Yeltz performance from all over the pitch, which saw them claim their first clean sheet of the season as well as putting on a scintillating attacking display along the way to Russ Penn's delight.
"Very pleased with the way we played, we were well worthy of the win. We worked very hard this week after last weekends performance on trying to be organised and that's what helped us win today.
"We had more impetus than them, we had the energy and had a great start to the second half after being on top in the first. We could have scored three or four barring a brilliant performance from their keeper, we knocked on the door throughout and were excellent from set plays."
Against what was an abundance of attacking quality which included last seasons league top scorer Jonathan Edwards, Halesowen had to be on it defensively and even with early tests from the away side coming through Edwards when he missed narrowly after being sent through in the first of their two opportunities.
Shortly before he turned creator and delivered a brilliantly lofted pass over the top to Kobe Chong who set up Patrick Casey to force a save from Platt, the Yeltz were on it throughout at the back, another part of the performance that pleased Penn.
"We gave too many chances away in our last few matches but we were on it today and needed to
be, we limited them to very few chances in the second half especially and were deserving of the clean sheet."
Following on from his two assists so far this season in as many home games, Conor Tee was the architect on the left and on two occasions inside the first half hour had two free kicks both in similar positions, the first of which came to no avail, but the second almost opened the scoring as Donnelly was there at the near post to flick the ball just wide of the goal.
The pair linked up again shortly after as Tee sent Donnelly through and but for some solid defending from the away side to force him wide and allow a comfortable save they could have again unlocked the deadlock. The last action of the half saw Tee dribble his way through the visitors moving onto his right to fashion a shot after shrugging off the defender and forcing a save down to the right of the saints new signing from Billericay Dan Wilks.
It was more of the same from the Yeltz after the break, debutant Josh Smile looked at ease in the middle of the park and inside the first five minutes of the second period made a brilliant pass to half time sub Reece Mitchell who laid it off to Tee who smashed a shot straight at Wilks to force a quick reaction save.
The goal was coming and five minutes later to no surprise Conor Tee had an instrumental part to play in it, after Kieran Donnelly worked his way into the box he was brought down twice, the first time legally, but the second less so, the loose ball found its way to Tee whose looping effort found its way over the helpless Wilks for a deserved opener.
The man brought in from Bromsgrove in the summer almost got a second minutes later after profiting from a loose header from Ethan Creary to allow a clear route to goal and force a save.
Not long after he almost set up a second after he picked out Cassidy on the edge of the box whose header from long range caused all sorts of problems for the St Ives keeper.
In what proved the only goal of the game, Halesowen were comfortable throughout the rest of the half, excellent defending haulted any pressure and limited the ever so reliable in front of goal Jonathan Edwards to scraps, hitting a shot well wide of the target with his first and well over the bar with his second with ten minutes to go.
A late scare almost diminished the perfect day for the Yeltz and Edwards almost profited from a rare clear scoring opportunity after a small bit of space emerged for him to find a position to hit just wide but for the flag to be rasied to Halesowen's relief, which shortly after greeted the full time whistle to mark a faultless performance and get Penn's fifth home win in six games.
Halesowen: Daniel Platt (GK), Jak Hickman (Reece Mitchell 45'), Nat Kelly, Josh Smile (Fin Holmes 84'), Ryan Wynter (C), Ryan Wollacott, Todd Parker, Conor Tee, Adi Yussuf (Ryan Boothe 90'), Kieran Donnelly, Ben Cassidy
St Ives: Dan Wilks (GK), Jernade Meade (Edmund Hotter), Aaron Smith (Byron Lawrence 62'), Johnathan Herd, Jordan Williams, Ethan Creary, Theo Alexandrou, Peter Abimbola (Silvano Obeng), Jonathan Edwards, Kobe Chong (David Adegbola 65'), Patrick Casey (Gregory Kaziboni 84')
Attendance - 749
Player of the match - Kieren Donnelly