Men's 3rd XI Vs Shrewsbury 2

Telford 3's welcomed Shrewsbury 2's to St George's, for another late 4:30 pushback. Telford's 13 man squad included the return Rajdeep Sandu. 

Telford started the game slowly, before grabbing hold of the game and pinning Shrewsbury back to their own 'D', with the away team defending for their lives for a period. This pressure caused Shrewsbury to buckle, when Ben Stevens scored, after Sandu played Stevens into the 'D'. His first touch let him down, giving the defence a chance to set. However his 'cross' to the back-post fooled everyone, including himself, trickling its way into the goal. 

This goal woke Shrewsbury up, with their midfield starting to come alive. Chances came from their strikers, with Telford's forwards failing to track back with their defenders. Some excellent saves from Dom and some brilliant last ditch defending from the likes of Moet, Jack Hodnett, Billy France and skipper Chris Nightingale kept the score at 1-0.

This was until Sandu scored his first goal of the game. Telford won a short corner, before winning another in quick succession after the first shot was closed down by Shrewsbury's number 1 runner. This time, the left slip option worked perfectly, with Sandu having a clean shot at goal, his slap low and hard leaving the keeper no chance. The score remained 2-0 until half time, with captain Nightingale happy with the score line, but knowing that the team must improve to keep a clean sheet. 

The second half played out like the last 5 minutes of the first, with Shrewsbury's press not leaving Telford a way out of their own 23. The chances Telford did get were good though, with the final pass or the shot letting them down at the last second. It was Rajdeep Sandu who got Telford's 3rd of the day, with the routine from his first copied perfectly, the Shrewsbury defence once again falling for the left slip option, being played in by Jon Woodrow. 

The game remained at 3-0, with both sets of players disagreeing with some umpiring decisions. Nightingale almost picked up a green card, after both sets of players disagreed with the decision. The captain tried to do the sporting thing of knocking the ball off the sideline from the long corner, with Bradley Williams believing Nightingale was hitting the ball away from the defence, showing the card to Nightingale, before coming to the right decision and not reducing Telford to 10 men. 

The full time whistle came, with Telford's defence starting to tire, with Pritchard keeping another clean sheet. The result leaves Telford 3rd in their league, three points clear of the team behind. Next weeks game is away to Tamworth 1's, who currently sit third bottom in their league, coming off the back of a 1-1 draw with Finchfield. 

Goals: Ben Stevens, Rajdeep Sandu x2. 
Assists: Rajdeep Sandu, Jon Woodrow. 

Motm - Rajdeep Sandu
Dotd - Chris Nightingale for showing good sportsmanship.