The Blue and Whites extended their unbeaten run to seven games with a hard-earned victory over Stourbridge at Sixways on Tuesday evening.

Kyle Belmonte opened the scoring early, firing into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Stourbridge reacted well and controlled much of the possession, but City remained solid. It took a handball decision in the box for the visitors to break through, the ball bouncing off Nathan Hayward’s thigh and onto his hand. Sutherland stepped up and scored from the spot.

Just as the half looked set to finish level, Dan Sweeney created space and rifled past the Stourbridge keeper deep into stoppage time to send City in ahead at the interval.

The second half was wide open and took a difficult turn for City when Nathan Hayward received a second yellow, reducing the hosts to ten men. City sat in and used Sweeney as the outlet. A perfectly weighted pass from Liam Lockett released the striker, and he slotted the ball through the keeper’s legs to extend the lead.

Stourbridge pushed late on and finally found a way through on 90 minutes when a speculative long-range effort from Sumnall slipped past Harley Price. It gave the visitors hope, but City held firm to claim a huge three points that lifted them to sixth in the table.

Another tough test awaits on Saturday when league leaders Harborough Town visit Sixways for a 3pm kick off.