| Match Report |
A damp and dreary Saturday afternoon saw the 4ths travel West to face Shrewsbury, hoping to continue the winning run of 5 on the bounce. The pre-match team talk was all about trusting the new system that we've been working on for a number of weeks now to play consistent possession hockey and slowly build unrelenting pressure on oppositions.
Telford dominated the early exchanges with the superior skill outmatching Shrewsbury's youthful athleticism. The possession game frustrated the hosts and the ability to rapidly transfer the ball from one side of the pitch to the other allowed Leo Walker to pick the ball up in the right channel and get it across the face of goal for Luke Oldham to bury in the back of the net. A deceptively simple short corner routine with a return pass to the injector on the post was turned in nicely by Chris Cousins to make it 2-0 at half time.
The second half was a totally different story with Shrewsbury pushing high to try and deny Telford the time on the ball. Whilst they had some limited success, it was Telford who scored first in the second half, Roger Marsh playing a neat 1-2 against the Shrewsbury keeper's pads before slotting it past for 3-0. Shrewsbury rarely threatened the Telford goal, despite having a good amount of possession with their new high press, but managed to score one thanks to some lax defending. The high press meant there was a lot of space in behind their midfield line which Telford managed to exploit with some great balls out from the defence. The 4th goal came from a rapid breakaway with Leo scoring his first of the day with a heavy overload of numbers on the counter attack. Shrewsbury managed to pull another one back which took an unlucky touch off a defender's stick to trickle past a wrong footed Seth Higginson in goal.
The relentless pressure of the structure and passing game eventually saw the Shrewsbury shape break down and their tiring defence shipped 3 more goals, Roger and George Pittson combining their efforts to smash the ball in at the same time, Leo getting his second and Roger capping his Man of the Match performance with his third. 7-2 the final score. A week off next week before hosting North Stafford at St Georges.
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