Men's 1st XI Vs Loughboro Stu 2

The men’s 1st XI ventured east to Loughborough University to face their 2nd team this Saturday. Liam Hennessy, Sean Huffer and Jack Mallett made way for Phil Bailey, Vince Richardson and Sam Pratt who made his 1st XI leagues debut. In the absence of coach Ralpshie, captain Tom “Warnock” Gough led the team talk with inspiration and aggression to set the tone before push back.

Telford defended hard against the fresh-faced students early on, conceding a flurry of penalty corners. These were denied by Gough’s fearless number 1 running, Callum Stacey’s multiple saves on the left post, and a Neil Davies save low to his right. Eventually Loughborough found the net with an unfortunate deflection off the skipper’s stick, sending the ball flying between Davies and Stacey on the line - 1-0.

Shortly after, following some questionable umpiring and heated discussions, Loughborough converted another corner, giving them a 2-0 lead at the half time interval. The visitors knew that they were still in the game and fancied their chances if they could be the team to score the next goal. 

Telford came out swinging, looking to put the pressure on the home side with a well organised defence. Tension and emotions were running high - several green cards shown to both sides throughout the game. Green turned to yellow; 5 for Loughborough, 1 for Telford’s Vinny Richardson (for reasons we are still unaware of since the offence was blown for a Loughborough push on the returning defender).

All suspensions served, Telford continued to apply pressure late into the 2nd half, some good work by Will Gough put Tom Mallett through on goal who unselfishly found Noah Higginson in front of goal, who dispatched into an empty net to half the deficit - 2-1. Unfortunately, the physical battle came to end shortly after with Telford enjoying more opportunities than the hosts.

Telford were disappointed to not come away with something from the game but were encouraged by the performance against a strong Loughborough side who finished 2nd in the league last time out. There are plenty of positives to take forward to next week as Telford host Hampton at home.