Men's Masters Over 40s Vs Burton

Telford & Wrekin Men's O40s secured another impressive EH Tier 2 Plate win with a 4-0 win away to Burton in the EH Tier 2 Plate competition. The squad welcomed back Simon Such, Pete Evans & Scott Marshall for their first game this season with Sunny Sahota available after a shoulder injury. Raj Dhanjal, Andy Lloyd, Paul Duncan & Neal Dolphin all missed out due to injury. A 15 man squad travelled and was added to with Roger Marsh in attendance to lead the warm up.

The game was played on Barton's new pitch which is similar to ours but it was evident the lack of water led to a few bobbles before and during the game. Again playing quarters, the first period commenced with us knocking the ball around with purpose with everyone getting used to the new team and pitch. We were looking dangerous without being able to find the back of the net before Dave Seaton was on hand to bundle a ball going across the goal over the line to give us a deserved 1 nil lead at the first interval. 

Second quarter and it was more of the same with lots of possession with the midfield trio of Suchy, VJ & Glyn dictating the tempo of the game with Evo finding lots of pockets of space but despite all of our possession and good play we didn't manage to extend our lead. John Middleton made a great save from one of Burton's rare forrays into our D from a short corner and Sunny was bowled by a full toss from Nighters much to the amusement of all. The rest of the play was pretty much in Burton's half and we went into the break in confident mood.

Second half and some tactical reshuffles following Seato's hammy forcing him off we set about getting some more goals that our play had deserved and Evo was on hand to bobble home a corner from out wide which evaded the Burton keeper who up until then hadn't put a foot wrong. At two nil Burton pressed with a few more numbers and from a speculative cross which evaded everyone except their forward it looked like being 2-1 but John Middleton was not to be beaten somehow managing to stop the first shot and then as the forward looked to flick the ball into the goal John turned his back and the ball bounced off the back of his helmet and looped over the crossbar much to the disbelief of everyone. Fortunately we managed to go up the other end and Evo hit another bobbler that squeezed through the keepers legs to give us a 3 nil lead.

The final quarter led to further short corners and good opportunities including a blatant jug avoidance from Evo from 1/2 a yard out from goal, but there was still time for a cameo appearance from Scotty (once he got his kit off) and towards the end of the game AJ drag flicked one into the root of the net to give us a commanding 4-0 win.

Another great performance from this new team which gives us confidence ahead of a tough Last 16 game at home on Sunday 12th February against either National League Clifton Robinsons or Westbury & United Banks both from Bristol. The game will be at St George's at either 12pm or 2pm with supporters more than welcome for this Last 16 clash. Hopefully a few of our injuries will heal, AJ will lose some of the lead in his legs and former Telford player Tom Fisher will be joining us for a classic at San Geo.

MOM : Evo & Tom Lauder

GOALS: Evo x 2, Seato & AJ.

Pic;
Back: V Chumber, S Marshall, J Woodrow, A Johnson, T Lauder, C Heath, B Singh, R Marsh.
Front: J Higginson, G Summerhayes, D Seaton, P Evans, S Sahota, S Such, J Middleton, C Nightingale.