ROSS Juniors Women secured a hard-fought 4-2 win away to Bromsgrove Sporting Development on Sunday to stay top of the Midwest Counties Ladies League.

They opened the scoring five minutes in when Holly Thomas' through ball found Lily Irving whose cross was fired home by Lauren Creed.

Bromsgrove piled on the pressure in response, but Juniors caught them on the counter-attack on 25 minutes, when when another Irving cross saw Millie Malsom make it 2-0 with a calm finish.

The latter then quickly turned provider when her run and pass saw Creed drive at goal to put Ross 3-0 up within minutes.

Holly Mace next hit an excellent shot from distance which went just over.

But some sloppy Ross defending then saw them concede on 33 minutes, leaving it 3-1 at the break.

Juniors brought on Romerleigh Parker, Cara Wright and Mica Walker, at the start of the second half, and 10 minutes later they extended their lead when Malsom beat her defender and her early cross found Meg Boardman to finish well.

Ruby Wood was then forced into two excellent pieces of sweeping quickly followed by a great save to keep Ross 4-1 up.

Bromsgrove pushed forward to try and get something from the game, with their physical striker proving a handful, but well marshalled by Parker.

But the hosts finally broke through to make it 4-2 10 minutes from time, before Ross took the sting out of the game to secure the points.

Coach Carl Roberts praised the team (sponsored by 21Wellbeing, HP Scaffolding Ltd, The Hope and Anchor and Pronto’s Pizza Kebab) for keeping their composure and not reacting to some very physical tackles, while moving the ball early to create some lovely passing moves.

Ross Ladies (sponsored by Kings Accountancy, Ross Health and Fitness and Scaffolding 2000) also enjoyed Sunday success, beating Westfields 5-0 in the semi-final of the Ross Cup, in their first home game since September 9.

Hannah Jenkins fired a hat-trick, backed by strikes for Jess Brain and Anna Craig as they raced into a 5-0 lead at half-time, with the reward a final against Belmont on April 6.