By Steve Pinder

The Saltmen opened their 2026-2027 Worcestershire Senior Cup campaign with a trip to near neighbours SC Inkberrow on a mild, early October evening at the Eagles’ impressive Sands Road ground.

With injuries and suspensions taking their toll on playing resources, a game against Step 4 opponents was never going to be an easy proposition. The presence of two former longstanding Droitwich players, Josh Hurdman and Jack Brighton in the Inkberrow line-up only added to the difficulty of the task.

Great credit must go to the ground staff at Sands Lane as the playing surface looked immaculate, if a bit on the hard side. It was ideally suited to a team who play neat, accurate attacking football which is exactly what the host club offer. And it took only 6 minutes of the first half for the Eagles to provide an example and inevitably it was one of the Kingys’ old boys who opened the scoring.
A tidy interchange in the midfield put wide-man Josh Hurdman clear and his shot from the edge of the box arrowed into the bottom corner of the Spa goal.

The play was far from one-way, however, with the Saltmen responding strongly to the early setback.
After a couple of strong appearances from the bench, Edward Bridge deservedly earned a first senior start and his performance belied his age.
The sixteen year-old attacker linked effectively with the Spa midfield and with fellow front-man Alex Dugmore, to the extent that Inkberrow were penalised six times during the opening 45 minutes for fouls on the young Spa man.
As Droitwich grew into the game, Inkberrow goalkeeper Brendan Bunn needed to be alert and was twice made to stretch to tip a headed effort from Alex Dugmore over the bar and a few minutes later to take similar action to turn a cunningly disguised shot from Haydn Morris over to safety.

At the other end of the field, Dom Rogerson showed excellent handling under pressure collecting a number of dangerous crosses from the hosts.
Then on the half-hour Inkberrow’s unmarked Piers Walton received the ball in the Spa box and gave Rogerson no chance with a neat finish to make it 2-0 at half-time, which some may say was a little harsh on the visitors.

The second period started with Nathan Binner replacing Cory Rudd.
Both sides traded attacks without a serious threat to either goal.
Droitwich captain James Lemon entered the game on 64 minutes in a three-way switch, replacing Jamie Townsend which in turn saw Alex Dugmore move to centre back. The Spa Captain, making appearance number 379, made a nuisance of himself but was unable to create the breakthrough.
Likewise, another substitute George Dalton made some enterprising forays deep into Inkberrow territory, but was unable to unlock the Eagles’ defence.

Inkberrow put the gloss on the score-line in the 88th minute when Max Angelides tucked away the Eagles’ third.
Despite the result never being in a great deal of doubt, Droitwich can hold their heads up after a strong performance against a very good side who may prove to be the strongest they will encounter all season.

Congratulations to SC Inkberrow; we wish them the best of luck in the next round.