Men's 3rd XI Vs Stafford 2

The Mens 3’s welcomed Stafford 2’s to St George's for a late 4:30 pushback. Earlier in the season, Telford won 4-2 when they travelled to Stafford, so looked to take another 3 points off the visitors. The 16 man squad that faced them included the return of Jon Woodrow, Raj Dhanjal and Dom Pritchard in goal, as well as Ryan Dymond-Link and Andrew Lloyd playing their first games for the 3’s this season. 

The team started well, pressing down Stafford and held them into their own half. Some good chances came for the hosts, not none of them troubled their goalkeeper. It was the away side that got the lead, with Ben Edwards getting tackled after trying to take a quick free hit from inside his own 23, with the same player then winning a short corner, which was comfortably dispatched by Stafford. 

1-0 was the half time score, and with Stafford starting to get tired with only 1 sub, Telford knew they could keep the pressure on them with the luxury of 5 subs. Captain Chris Nightingale gave his team talk, and the squad knew they had to play better and do the basics well to get something from the game. 

The home side continued to carve out chances and goal scoring opportunities, but as has been the story of the season, none of them were put away. Stafford got their second with another penalty corner, with the defence failing to run out and put pressure on the striker, giving Stafford a cheap goal. Telford continued to win multiple short corners, with Dymond-Link struggling to keep his drag flick on target, and the left pass to Ben Stevens not coming to anything. The hosts struggled to make use of their brief two-man advantage, after Stafford received multiple yellow cards from the umpires, as the game started to take a feisty turn. 

2-0 was the final score after a disappointing performance from the home team. The result sees Telford slip down to 5th place in the league on goal difference, with Bloxwich having a GD of +14 compared to Telford’s +4. Next week sees the team travel early to Barford Tigers for a 11:15 pushback.

Report credit - Ben Stevens