DARLASTON TOWN 1874 3 SHIFNAL TOWN 2
Midland Football League, Premier Division
Wednesday 12 October 2022
An unconvincing display by Shifnal as they went down to their second league defeat of the season, against a workmanlike Darlaston side. The first half of the game was very forgettable, with neither goalkeeper being troubled. The hosts had the best chances, with Keiron Miller and Dominic Dell both shooting yards over the crossbar from outside the penalty area.
2 minutes into the second half, Dell struck a sweet shot from 20 yards, which came back into play off the upright. Shifnal’s first threat came after 51 minutes, when Luke Walsh beat a defender before crossing low into the penalty area, but Tom Hill could only fire over at full stretch. The hosts opened the scoring on the hour out of the blue, DELL driving the ball through a crowd of players into the bottom corner from 20 yards. The goal was cancelled out 10 minutes later when substitute Mikey Nelson beat a defender on the right and crossed low for HILL to slide the ball in at the far post. 2 minutes further on, Darlaston were unlucky when Ben Podmore headed a corner down, only for the ball to loop up onto the top of the crossbar. Against the run of play, Shifnal took the lead in the 77th minute, when the ball was played through for HILL and his delightful lob from 25 yards sailed over Joe Sidaway and dropped into the net. The visitors could have won the game on 81 minutes when Jeremy Abbey passed inside to Keanu Cooper, whose low shot from the edge of the penalty area was grabbed on the goal-line by Sidaway at the second attempt. A minute later, the Shifnal defence failed to clear a ball in from the left, and substitute RIVEL MARDENBOROUGH netted from 15 yards. 2 minutes after that, fellow substitute HARVEY DANGERFIELD gave the home side the lead in almost identical fashion. Shifnal goalkeeper Sheridan Martinez was unhappy with this goal and following an altercation with the referee, he was shown a red card, Hill taking his place between the sticks. As the game moved into stoppage time, it looked odds on Darlaston extending their lead as Dell cut in from the right, but Hill made a fine save from his fierce shot.
DARLASTON: Joe Sidaway, Josh Jones, Reece Mason (Liam Smith 90mins), Liam Wilkinson, Ben Podmore, Alex Foreshaw, Lewis Gill (Harvey Dangerfield 73mins), Ryan Winwood, Kieron Miller (Rivel Mardenborough 76mins), Dominic Dell, Kieran Cook (Ben Priest 90mins).
Sub not used: Jake Pearson.
Cautions: Gill (32mins); Wilkinson (90mins).
SHIFNAL: Sheridan Martinez, Josh Green, Kane Lewis, Sam Griffiths, Jack Kelly (Mikey Nelson 61mins), Emem Jones, Keanu Cooper, Ashley Brown (Jeremy Abbey 68mins), Tom Hill, Lewis Jarman (Joe Thompson 73mins), Luke Walsh (Tyrone Ofori 78mins).
Sub not used: Sean Jones.
Cautions: E Jones (66mins); Griffiths (84mins).
Sending off: Martinez (85mins).
Attendance: ?
Referee: Guy Thrower.
Assistant referees: Stuart Hale.
Steve Castle.
Shifnal Star Man: Tom Hill.
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