Sturdy relishing the chance of a free hit

Sturdy reckons the final two fixtures of 2018 represent “free-hits” for his team following five straight wins, which has left them sitting fourth in the Midlands One West.

Bromsgrove sit eight points ahead in second, while Whitchurch then host third-placed Dudley Kingswinford a week tomorrow.

Sturdy said: “From our point of view, we are 12 games into the season and have got 45 points on the board, so these next two games are a real free-hit.

“We can go to Bromsgrove tomorrow and really chuck the kitchen sink at it. We’ve absolutely nothing to lose.

“They’re a very good side but they also have a bit of pressure on their shoulders, which we don’t have.”

Whitchurch are looking to round-off an excellent 12 months, the highlight of which was their promotion as champions from Midlands Two West (North), just a year after their relegation from Midlands One West.

This season they have been something of a surprise package, winning nine out of 12 games to this point.

Sturdy said: “Though it was painful at the time, in hindsight being relegated was the best thing which could have happened to us.

“It gave us a real opportunity to develop some young players and we have come back stronger.

“It had become a real struggle for us in Midlands One West. We were struggling to put teams out at one stage, some weeks we would be missing 10 or 12 players.

“The experience of going down was really good for us.

“We’ve won nine games this season and in almost all of those you would say we were good value for it.”