Cinderford Town 1 Redditch United 1

LUKE Rodgers popped up with a classy last-ditch leveller to halt Redditch United’s seven-match losing streak at bottom-of-the-table Cinderford.

Despite being marooned at the foot of the Southern League Premier Division, the hosts had won their previous three outings and looked on course for another success thanks to a 76th-minute strike from Sam Hicks.

But ex-Shrewsbury Town frontrunner Rodgers saved the day with some strong hold up play and a controlled finish beyond advancing keeper Cameron Clark in the 90th minute.

It was the least Reds deserved from a nip-and-tuck battle which Darren Byfield’s men edged during the first half.

Charlie Morris somehow managed to miss and open goal after a deep free-kick had dropped into his path during the opening two minutes, while Karnell Chanbers set off on a strong run for the hosts shortly after but his shot was straight at United stopper Brad Catlow.

Chances were few and far between until the half-hour mark when Morris set about atoning for his earlier miss by drawing a good stop from Clark.

Donnell Benjamin followed suit just before the interval but there was a warning from Cinderford’s Jared Welch whose cross-shot skipped past the far post with Catlow rooted to the spot.

Rodgers drove a free-kick narrowly over after the restart and Catlow was forced to claw away a point-blank header as the match continued to ebb and flow.

Cinderford hit the crossbar during a goal-mouth scramble from the corner that followed and eventually made their pressure tell when Hicks was granted time and space to beat Catlow low to the custodian’s left.

But the Reds kept plugging away and Rodgers calmly gathered a speculative ball over the top to end a losing run that had dated back to January 7.

Reds: Catlow 7, Jones 6, Dhillon 5, Loveridge 5, Courtney 6, Cullinane-Liburd 5, Angus 5 (Mitchell, 73, 6), BENJAMIN 7*, Keen 5 (Bennett, 85), Rodgers 7, Morris 5 (Diop, 76, 6). Unused subs: Brown, Hussain.