Men's 1st XI Vs Edgbaston 1

Heading into the final five fixtures of the season Telford and Wrekin Men’s 1st XI required 4 points to secure promotion into the Midlands Premier Division. On Saturday Edgbaston made the trip down the M54 to face a Telford side who had won four of their last matches which included two consecutive clean sheets. 

In the return fixture Telford were pushed all the way in a tense match where they ran out 3-2 winners and knew that Edgbaston would pose them questions with their direct approach. With Telford’s evolution across the season, Edgbaston’s threat was nullified and allowed the hosts to dominate the game from the off.

With an immediate threat down the left Telford looked lively but find a way through. 15 minutes had passed without a goal but with one comes two. After playing through Edgbaston’s midfield Tom Mallett dispatched a short corner into the bottom right corner. Dave Tracey doubled the lead jumping on the rebound of a Tom Mallett shot to score his lucky number, 13th goal of the season. 

Halftime came with the score at 2-0 with Telford in control of the game with Neil Davies yet to have a touch of the ball. More of the same was the message at the break and to keep asking questions of the Edgbaston defence. 

Tracey had his second of the game when he was yet again in the right place at the right time to put away another rebound from Tom Mallett’s shot. Edgbaston looked to hit back and had several penalty corners which eventually resulted in a penalty stroke which was put away by Edgbaston. 

With Edgbaston’s hopes of a result were reignited, Tracey soon extinguished any hopes of a comeback, unleashing a hammer blow from a penalty corner. His strike deflected off the keeper on the way in to reinstate Telford’s 3 goal lead. 

Tom Mallett finished what he started with another goal from a penalty corner to give Telford a comfortable 5-1 victory and move one step closer to promotion. 

Sutton Coldfield travel to Telford next weekend as they have back to back home matches and now require 1 point to secure promotion.