City end sticky spell THE rub of the green, a stroke of luck call it what you want, but if you want to win football matches you need the football gods smiling down on you.

Those gods have not been too kind to Lancaster City this season but perhaps they had some sympathy for the Dolly Blues on Saturday after a difficult trip through wind and rain to Birmingham.

Less than two minutes of the clash with Moor Green had gone when that little bit of luck went with City and how they capitalised.

Steve Hollis's back pass was routine for Jamie Speare but the keeper screwed his clearance and the ball smacked into onrushing Moor Green striker Mark Owen.

It could have gone anywhere but rolled just wide of the post and changed the game.

Instead of being 1-0 down and staring a third straight league defeat in the face, City dug deep and turned in a professional show to win 2-0.

They had been in a jam but at the Damson Park home of Solihull Borough, Moor Green's temporary home next door to Birmingham Airport, that sticky spell ended.

After that early scare City got back to doing what they do best on the road and counter-attacked with speed and poise.

The impressive Ryan-Zico Black forced a good save out of Adam Rachel as the Dolly Blues pressed and when Peter Thierry' Thomson, who really needed a goal, kept his nerve to rattle a shot home from the tightest of angles on 24 minutes there was really only going to be one outcome.

It was a goal of the highest quality, crafted from sharp passing and an incisive final ball for the big striker to race onto and for a time it looked like the floodgates could open.

Black sent a 20-yarder zipping just over, while Neil Prince twisted and turned before sending a 25-yard shot smacking against the crossbar.

It was only 1-0 at the break and the change in weather suggested a tough second half for City.

Speare's kicks regularly travelled 40 yards before blowing 20 yards back, although one towering clearance must have sent the nearby air traffic control centre into meltdown as the ball sailed right across the flightpath!

But even that wind couldn't tame City. Moor Green had plenty of possession but a defence with the experience of Martin Clark, Paul Sparrow and Andy Scott, coupled with the youthful endeavours of Joe McMahon, was never going to be breached.

Prince went close again, while a flowing move should have resulted in a penalty when the grounded Guy Sanders handled Black's shot.

But the game was made safe by Black eight minutes from time after another incisive move.

Sharp passing was again the order of the day as the ball made its way to Neil Uberschar. He cut in from the left and delivered the perfectly weighted cross that demanded a goal. Black obliged with glee from 10-yards.

The only real scare for City came in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Prince appeared to handle on, or even behind, the line.

No penalty was given and neither was the goal, much to the disdain of the home side.

CITY: Speare, Scott, Sparrow, McMahon, Uberschar, Clark, Jones, Prince, Hollis, Thomson, Black. Subs (not used): Sullivan, Hughes, Dawes, Bauress, Yeomans.