HALESOWEN Town came out on top of a highly charged 'No 9 derby' last night after pulling off a pulsating 4-3  success at arch rivals Stourbridge in front of a capacity Amblecote crowd. 

A heavy police presence greeted supporters, who were segregated following previous crowd disturbances  for the fixture but the game  carried off relatively peacefully.

However, play had to be halted for 10 minutes early in the first half when a barrier collapsed as Stourbridge supporters celebrated an equalising goal.

Halesowen had made the initial opening when taking the lead on 16 minutes after Kieren Donnelly cracked home following a sustained spell of pressure but within three minutes, Stourbridge  were back level when Reece King converted  after Yeltz goalkeeper Dan Platt  proved unable to gather a free kick.

At this point, the barrier broke leading to a delay in proceedings.

As a result, referee Jake Allsopp added 14 minutes of first half stoppage time - and  it was after eight minutes of additional time that Halesowen went back in front when Nathan Hayward hit the post but followed up to fire home from the rebound.

Stourbridge struck back to  level again on 58 minutes when leading goalscorer Luke Benbow netted from the penalty spot.

Halesowen then stunned the home support by netting twice within the space of two minutes.

Striker Miracle Okafor turned home a Jack Holmes cross on 62 minutes, before Holmes himself hammered home a fourth following a sizzling solo effort.

Stourbridge refused to lie down and cut the deficit to 4-3 following a second Benbow penalty on 71 minutes but Halesowen held out despite referee Allsop adding a further eight minutes of additional time.

Afterwards Halesowen manager Paul Smith admitted to being soaked by liquid thrown at him during the game but added: "You don't mind getting wet when you've won 4-3 away from home!

"It was a huge win for us, absolutely massive - but I must pay credit to the referee as well. I thought he had a tremendous game. A lesser official would have struggled!