Men's 3rd XI Vs North Stafford 4

After a difficult game last week against runaway league leaders, Telford 3's looked to return to winning ways, travelling to Clayton Academy to take on bottom of the league North Staffs 4. The 12 man squad knew this game was a must win, with Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury only two points behind but with superior goal differences.

North Staff's 4 may have won the toss and the first pushback against on-field captain Raj, but seconds into the game, the press was on North Staffs. Sahib won the ball down the right hand side, creating the first of many attacks with Telford looking dangerous from the word 'Go'. The first goal came from Ben Edwards setting up Tommy Lauder to slot the ball away comfortably, with Tommy then setting up Sahib  who fired the ball back across goal to make the score 2-0 Telford!

Telfords 3rd of the day came soon after, with Ben Edwards taking a free hit himself and dribbling into the 'D' and his shot taking a deflection into the goal. Before long, the score was 4-0 with Tommy setting up Ben Stevens, who slotted the ball home through the keepers legs. Ben soon added his second of the match, with Luke Oldham charging down the right wing, before taking a shot which Ben made sure went over the line!!

Telford kept a strong press on North Staffs, with the ball rarely coming out of our attacking half. However Telford struggled to add more to the score, with penalty corners and chances not being put away, as well as the North Staffs 'keeper producing some stunning saves. That didn't stop Tommy though, who added 2 more to his account being assisted by Glyn and Ollie. Ollie then joined in on the goal scoring action, adding two well taken goals set up by Tommy Lauder both times.

The half time whistle came with the score line being 9-0 to Telford!! Captain Chris Nightingale gave his talk, encouraging us to keep working hard and not loose focus.

The second half started, with Telford still dominating possession. Telford didn't waste any time adding to their goal tally with Ben E setting up Tommy once again, who slotted home his fourth goal of the game!! Ben Stevens then set up Ollie, who slotted home his third goal of the match!! With the score at 11-0, Telford hardly let the ball out of the attacking half, with centre backs Billy and Ash even stepping up to try their luck against the keeper!!

Before long however, it was Ben Stevens who became the third player to score a hat trick, adding two goals in quick succession, being set up by midfielder Glyn. The midfield kept working hard, with Glyn and Ben E both controlling the pace of the game, and creating chance after chance for the forwards. It was Ollie who made the score 14-0, with a scrappy goal being tapped over the line after a scramble in the goal mouth! Luke Oldham also joined in on the goal scoring, adding his first goal for the thirds with Ben S passing the ball across the goal for Luke to push into an empty goal.

Tommy Lauder made it 5 goals for him, with Luke set Tommy through 2v1 against the North Staffs keeper and centre back, with Tommy calmly slotting the ball home! The final goal of the game came from a well worked penalty corner, with Tommy passing the ball back to injector Glyn, who put the ball back across the goal to make the final score of the game 17-0 to Telford!!!

An important result from Telford keeps them second in their league, with promotion rivals Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury both dropping points! Next week, Shrewsbury travel to St. George's to meet the 3rds!