Town head out of the EFL Youth Alliance Cup
Town: Atkinson (Gregory, 80), Sears, Bonner (Kerins, 52) Roberts (Esien, 58), Rammell, Barnett, Gilpin, McAtee, Hassall (Lifumpa, 52), Ofori, Jones (Lovett, 58).Burton Albion: Hawkins, Tandy, Steele (Armitage, 71), Hallahan, Saville, Cotterill, Hunt (Shaw, 65), Sbarra, Garnett, Dowd (Davies, 45), Matthews
Unused Subs: Walker, Mallass
Shrewsbury Town U18’s have crashed out of the EFL Youth Alliance Cup after suffering a 4-0 thrashing away to Burton Albion U18’s.
Town started the brighter of the two sides and looked the more likely to take an early lead.
The first chance of the game fell to Tyrone Ofori, who was brilliantly picked out by winger Matthew Jones. Ofori could only head Jones’s cross into Callum Hawkins’ hands, though.
Burton Albion looked very shaky in the opening stages of the game, but they somehow took the lead on 11 minutes when poor defending offered Tristan Matthews an opportunity to shoot.
Matthews kept a cool head and placed the ball into the bottom left corner.
This was a sickening blow for Town, who never really managed to recover.
Joe Hunt came close to doubling his teams lead when a well defender corner sparked a counter attack for the men in yellow.
The Burton defender unleashed a shot towards the bottom right corner but he was denied by the solid right hand of Jack Atkinson.
Hunt had another opportunity to make it 2-0 on the 23rd minute. A Joe Sbarra free kick evaded everybody in the box and fell to Hunt who was poised at the back post, but his shot was blocked by Joel Bonner.
Burton Albion had the ball in the net for a second time from the resulting corner, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul on Bonner.
After that stroke of fortune, Town produced a chance of their own at the other end of the pitch.
Ryan Barnett, who was Shrewsbury’s stand out performer on the day, neatly played in Ofori who shot well wide.
Just when Town seemed to be getting back into the game, Sbarra doubled the deficit for the home side.
The midfielder, who has recently signed a professional contract with the Brewers, was given too much time in the box and stroked the ball into the bottom right corner.
Shrewsbury had a chance to get a goal back just before half time, but Callum Roberts couldn’t keep his header down.
Soon after the interval, Sbarra got his second scalp of the contest with an almost identical finish to his first.
Tempers began to flare, as the game looked to be essentially over for the visitors.
On the 56th minute, Ofori saw his name go into the book after a late challenge on Jayden Cotterill.
After a series of substiutions, Ian Dawes’s side came close to getting on the scoreboard when Jacob Rammell’s corner was parried up into the air by Hawkins.
John McAtee was the first to react to the looping ball, but he headed high and wide.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Shrewsbury, they conceded a fourth goal in the 85th minute.
A stunning 20-yard strike from Dylan Garnett was too good for substitute goalkeeper Cameron Gregory, who replaced the injured Atkinson just minutes before.
As a result of that defeat, Shrewsbury Town U18’s now exit the EFL Youth Alliance Cup after they could only accumulate a meagre two points in three games.
FT: Burton Albion 4 - 0 Shrewsbury Town