Men's 4th XI Vs North Stafford 5

Telford 4ths vs North Staffs 5ths 

With the next 4 points scoring matches against top 5 opposition, it was vital that Telford scored maximum points against North Stafford if there was any chance of putting Leek under pressure for 3rdplace in the table. With that in mind, Telford dominated the opening few minutes of the match trying to find the opening goal. It nearly came after a frantic spell of play saw captain Tom Hurst put an unlikely shot narrowly wide. However, it was North Staffs who struck first, a dangerous ball hitting Paul Cousins in the chest fell fortuitously at the feet of a North Staffs player, who took advantage of the sudden break in the defence who expected a whistle that never came, to slot the ball past Bradley in goal. 

Although still fielding a strong side Telford lacked some of the attacking finesse that had seen us score 26 goals in our last 3 games, a number of chances went begging with misses at the back post as well as players determined to destroy the goal nets rather than simply playing the ball around the keeper and pushing it into the vacant goal. A well worked play saw Leo Walker feed Roger Marsh, who continued his good run of scoring form to bring Telford back level. The parity was short-lived however with North Staffs scoring a lucky short corner which took the finest of edges off Bradley’s kicker and wrong-footed Tom defending on the line. 2-1 down at half time. 

In the second half Telford again came out strongly and dominated possession for large spells, even more chances came and went before Josh Sykes lashed a shot heading just wide of the post only for it to be diverted past a stranded goal keeper by Roger. For the remainder of the match Telford pushed for that winning goal, always wary of a strong counter attack from North Staffs but neither team could score again. The game, as it did in the reverse fixture, ended 2-2. Although this time it felt like two points dropped rather than a draw salvaged. 

Leo Walker was voted Man of the Match for his industrious efforts up front trying to secure us vital goals.