A DAN Stoneman second half strike was enough for Westfields to see off Bishops Cleeve and stretch their gap to 15 points at the summit of the Hellenic Premier.

Fields started with a bang and Aidan Thomas was only denied a first minute opener by a smart charging save.

Stoneman was through on goal later in the half, but saw his effort fly agonisingly wide.

However, against the run of play Cleeve opened the scoring after the hosts failed to clear danger and Ieuan Crowe fired home.

They were ahead for less than a minute as from the re-start Ben Hayes ran clear and finished to level before the break.

Stoneman's winner came on 62 minutes after Matt Reeve unlocked the defence with a perfect through ball before the striker took a touch and fired past the goalkeeper.

"It was a very tough game," said Glover.

"I thought we bossed it for 43 minutes and had loads of chances and they've got one from our mistake which is annoying.

"But we've done really well to score straight after I think it was really important.

"When you don't take your chances, we are a different side when we score early or get in front we very rarely give it away.

"I knew we would create chances with the front six which we have got.

"They (Bishops Cleeve) grew into the game during the second half and it was like a proper West Midlands League match and was evenly matched in the second half."

With goalkeeper Ian Havard going off injured substitute Steve Sarkodie came on.

Within minutes he brought down scorer Crowe inside the box, but saved the resulting penalty.

Moments later Sarkodie was back in action, this time tipping Harrison Iddles glanced header around the post.

"Steve has been biding his time in there and training with us," added Glover.

"It's hard for a goalkeeper to come on during a bitterly cold night and to go straight into the action.

"We know he is sharp and I trust him to go in there. He's made two great saves, the penalty save and the one where he's tipped it around the post.

"We all thought it was in, so his agility, which we knew about was really good."

The win was Westfields 17th from 21 league matches as they stretched their lead at the top.

"It's testament to the lads and the backroom staff, not me, the other guys with the coaching," added Glover.

"The lads have been committed and focus. Every game the mentality has been right, what time they get here, the warm up and tactics.

"They take everything on board and it's a pleasure to manage them, it really is.

"We worry about ourselves first and foremost. That's all we've done since day one and that's all we'll do until the end of the season.

"With the lads which we've got when we are working hard, which we do, and the quality that we've got in there. We've got a few lads coming back from injury now, we had a spell after Christmas where we had a few injuries behind the scenes but we've got them back now, it can only be positive going forward."