Shrewsbury Town

Town: Wearing, Carpenter, Westray (Fletcher 40), Smith, Holmes, Musslewhite (Anderson 67), Easthope, Evans, Stephenson (Molinuex 45), Gwilliams, Ryan. 

Subs not used: Jones.

Goals: Ryan (2), Gwilliams, Westray, Stephenson.

An eight goal thriller you may think, however with a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time followed by 3-0 on 49 minutes we needed to be disciplined, professional and control the game. As you can imagine 2 goals on 53 and 55 minutes gifted Hereford an opportunity to get right back in the match.

With some good movement and passing in the first half we looked a constant threat especially with Gwilliams pace down the right and Ryan running in behind the Hereford defence.  It was Gwilliams who threaded a nice ball through to Ryan who received the ball on the run and then delivered a low shot which the keeper couldn’t hold, Stephenson followed up and finish for a 1-0 lead on 17 minutes. Soon after this it was Gwilliams again who crossed to the far post for the incoming Westray to compose himself, check onto his left foot and strike into the far bottom corner for 2-0 and with more attempts from Ryan and deliveries from Gwilliams we had good momentum in the game. 

Second half came and the boys were set two tests of which the first they carried out due to an excellent counter attack started by Connor Wearing in goal who sent Ryan through again to cut inside and shoot low into the near post making it 3-0. 

Game over! It should have been but lapses in concentration and errors in the wrong half of the pitch gifted Hereford two goals, of which one was a penalty, to bring the scores to 3-2 on 55 minutes.

Fortunately for us Gwilliams and Ryan were really hard to deal with from a defensive point of view and as we got the ball to Gwilliams again he drove at the defence cut inside and hit a fierce curling shot into the far post for 4-2, anything you can do I can do better said Ryan as he picked the ball up on the left, cut inside and fired a terrific right footed shot into the top far corner giving the keeper no chance to finish our scoring at 5.

A late fumble or foul on Wearing gave Hereford a late third goal to complete the goals for the evening but from a professional perspective learning the game at all stages is massively important.  Players need to realise where your strengths are, where the opposition are and exploit them, know when to speed up games or slow them down, play short, play long to your own advantage as a team.

In the next round though!

Pete Wilding