Men's 2nd XI Vs North Stafford 2

Telford 2s returned to action at home vs North Staffs after 3 weeks without a game. Having won the first 3 games after Christmas Telford were keen to further their promotion aspirations against a North Staffs side that over various meetings in recent seasons have always had the quality to cause problems. The opening exchanges were close fought with neither side able to break through the other’s defence, with Telford’s decent interplay failing to break the North Staffs back line and North Staff’s aerial balls posing a threat. This and the speed and ball skills of the North Staffs forwards led to Telford’s backline of Will Lorenz, Henry Whitwood, Matt Denver and captain Tom Williams being called into action, with Nathan Capes making multiple great saves between the sticks. The breakthrough eventually came from a beautiful passing move with Ollie Brannen beating his man on the half way line before exchanging a series of one-two passes with Matt Hadley-Moore and John Perry leading to Brannen walking the ball over the line leaving the keeper no chance. Shortly after, Jon Cook continued his fantastic run of goal scoring form, deflecting in from a yard out from Jorge Hadley-Moore’s pass across the goal. Telford’s third and Cook’s second followed, Matt Denver picking the ball up on the right hand side, crashing a great cross into the D to an unmarked Cook, who took a touch before burying a finish into the bottom corner. The message at half time was to continue doing the things that had paid dividends in the first half while also sharpening up some slower passages of play to be expected after so much time off. Much of the second half was played in the North Staffs half with the midfield well controlled by Tom Bullock and John Perry. Despite this, Telford were struggling to find the finishing touch with several decent chances going begging. That changed however when the lively Will Gough picked the ball up unmarked on the left wing before moving into the D and crossing for top scorer Jorge Hadley-Moore to finish with a close range dive in front of the keeper. The final goal was an individual piece of brilliance with Gough feeding the ball to man of the match Matt Hadley-Moore who won a free hit, before quickly taking the self pass, running across the top of the D and finishing with aplomb on his reverse into the bottom right hand corner leaving the keeper no chance.

Telford next face Finchfield 3s on Sunday 27/02 in a rearranged game.

Goal scorers: Ollie Brannen, Jon Cook x2, Jorge Hadley-Moore, Matt Hadley-Moore

Man of the match: Matt Hadley-Moore