Home defeat for the youth team
Shrewsbury Town 0 Rochdale 1
Youth Alliance
Friday 7th December
On the face of it, it appears like a tight scoreline but that didn't really reflect the game as in the first half Rochdale dominated from start to finish.
Callum Burton was forced to make numerous saves as we struggled to get anywhere near Rochdale’s midfield as they controlled the game, linked with forwards and wide players, and managed to create chance after chance.
Surprisingly, we still went in at half time level at the Shrewsbury Sports Village and hoping that Rochdale could not keep up their momentum in the second half.
Ten minutes into the second half we needed to make changes as Rochdale once again controlled the midfield.
David Easthope dropped deeper with Deion Evans and Dillan Stephenson going wide as we began to contribute to the game.
Easthope found himself through on goal and with a chance to break the deadlock only to be denied by the Rochdale goalkeeper.
As the game developed, a draw would have suited us more than Rochdale, but unfortunately in the 83rd minute we failed to deal with a cross and the ball was scrambled in to the net and give the visitors a deserved winner .
Having only five players coming out of the game with any credit, as was the case, is not acceptable if you want to progress to the next or any level of football.
Finish games with no regret and be 100 per cent honest with yourself and others.
Town: Burton, Carpenter, Phillips, Holmes, Westray, Ryan (Jones 60), Gwilliams, Musslewhite (Stephenson 65) Evans, Easthope, Molinuex. Unused sub: Smith
by Peter Wilding