Men's 4th XI Vs North Stafford 5

Telford and Wrekin fourths played North Staffs fifths on a sunny late afternoon. North Staffs had proved a bogey team for Telford over the past few seasons and the fourths were keen to put their demons to rest. The home team took a slight majority of possession throughout the first half. Although North Staffs played well, they failed to penetrate the D with much precision and when they did were quickly swamped by the defence, or on occasion the advancing Alex Ward who made a return in goal for the fourth team. Telford pressed heavily on the North Staffs defence who, wary of Telford's recent form, overloaded at the back in an attempt to close out the attack.

The first goal came the way of the home side in the third minute. A Telford breakaway saw Kieran Mountford make his way in to the opposition twenty-three slightly to the left side of the pitch, he spotted Will Thompson on the right and sent him the ball, Will confidently took the ball just inside the D and fired home to the keepers' right-hand corner. The second goal came on the stroke of half time. Matthew Cousins playing at centre back made a tricky run into the North Staffs half and spotting Joshua Sykes on the right in between the twenty-three and the D passed the ball, Josh manoeuvred himself into the D and in between two defenders managed to shoot the ball over the advancing keeper.

After half time the game resumed much the same as the first half but with a lack of an early breakthrough for Telford. North Staffs made the game competitive and both teams created short corner opportunities with Telford receiving the majority. Failure to convert any of these chances and a somewhat controversial decision, having a Telford goal ruled out, the ball being judged not to have left the D from one such short corner, leaving a fairly tight score line going into the last ten minutes. The home team however were the better team once more in the second half.

Telford scored three goals in the last five minutes with their next in the sixty-fifth. A prolonged attack saw the ball rattle around the opposition D and find its way to Rajpal Dhanjal, making a welcomed return to the fourths, his first shot was blocked but tricked the defenders to make room for a second shot which he sent past the keeper. In the sixty-eighth minute a breakdown of a North Staffs attack resulted in a rapid Telford counter attack. A series of one touch then pass from Raj to Will to Josh was finished in style past the defender and keeper once more by Josh. Another rapid counter in the seventieth minute saw Kieran pass to Josh in the last twenty-three, who sent the ball past the last defender to Roger Marsh who delicately placed the ball past the advancing North Staffs' keeper for the last goal of the game and Telford's fifth.

In the last two minutes Dave Stephenson decided to test his one-on-one skills and gave the ball to the opposition forward from a defensive hit out. Thankfully Dave did enough to put the attacker off and Alex kept his clean sheet. Alan Brannen assisted in collecting the balls after the pre-match warm-up. Joshua Sykes was awarded his third man of the match this season for another outstanding display of skill, composure and team ethic. Thanks to Bradley Williams and Thomas Hurst for umpiring and to Jordan Keeble and Nicole Cousins for assisting with the substitutions.

Goals; Will Thompson – 1 (3, FG)

             Joshua Sykes – 2 (35, FG, 68, FG)

             Rajpal Dhanjal – 1 (65, FG)

             Roger Marsh - (70, FG)

Assists; Matthew Cousins – 1 (3, FG)

               Kieran Mountford - (35, FG)

               Will Thompson – 1 (68, FG)

               Joshua Sykes – 1 (70, FG)

Man of the Match; Joshua Sykes

Umpires; Thomas Hurst, Bradley Williams