Men's 5th XI Vs Stone 5

On a blustery afternoon at Stone (when isn't it) the 5th team looked to continue their development in their first full season. Hampered by the call up of players to the 4ths, work commitments and umpiring duties, the team took to the pitch with the bare 11 and no keeper. 

The team took a while to find their feet and decide on the best way to approach ths tricky fixture, but as the first half progressed a fluent and disciplined team effort developed. 

Stone were always likely to make use of the lack of a keeper, and whilst Brent carried out heroics to keep the score down, Stone managed to pick up 3 first half goals. However, progressive forward play led to a penalty corner for Telford, and after a bit of pinball, Paul fed the ball through to Connor for him to tuck it away calmly past the Stone keeper. A penalty corner awarded when a defender stopped the ball on the line with his foot gave us an indication of how tricky the game was going to be.

The second half started well with George and Abraham giving the Stone defence a lot to think about whils Alan Brannen kept the centre backs busy. Ewan was busy in his new position in midfield but proved to be a good link up with the defence. Strong defensive play from Brent, Paul, Alan, Jerry and Jim provided the opportunities for Telford to make some more attacking moves. With Kirean forming the link between defence and attack, it wasn't long before another opportunity arrived. George fed a lovely ball through to the progressive Alan who took his time, allowed the keeper to commit himself, then calmly slotted it between the posts.

Stone scored a couple of second half goals - one from a penalty corner where the ball didn't leave the D, before Telford finished off with their last concerted attack. Kieran capped off a fine performance by scoring his first senior goal from a short pass from Alan to beat the oncoming keeper.

A thouroughly enjoyable game was had by all as the 5ths take another step forward in their development.