Shrewsbury Town

Squad: Callum Burton, Shaun Rowley,  Jack Richards, Tom Astley, George Carpenter, Ryan Hickman, David Easthope, Niall Flint, Alex Fletcher, Matty Jones, Josh Ginnelly, Sam Molyneux, Scott Ryan, Kaiman Anderson, Jeff Watkins.

Scorers: Easthope (2), Ginnelly, Molyneux

After the disappointment of Cheltenham at the weekend the Youth Team did not have to wait long to redeem themselves against Stoke City. We stuck with the 4-4-2 formation that we finished with at Cheltenham and played a diamond in midfield which mirrored Stoke City’s line up. 

We settled into the game quickly and moved the ball around well in the opening half hour. After some good pressing by David Easthope he gave us the lead with a well struck left foot shot into the bottom corner after 18 minutes. However, our lead was short lived and we gifted yet another goal to the opposition. This time we were caught trying to play sideways across the back four. The underhit pass was intercepted by the Stoke City striker who ran through unopposed and finished underneath Callum Burton. For the remainder of the half it was us who created the better chances as we recognised good opportunities to press and pinch the ball and feed the lively Jeff Watkins, Scott Ryan, or Kaiman Anderson.

Although we had become sloppy in our possession towards half time we expected a good performance in the second half. However, we saw the opposite and it was Stoke who moved the ball effortlessly inside our half of the pitch. For the vast majority of the second half we were off the pace and lacked intensity and bite when defending. However, for all of Stoke’s possession they only called Callum Burton into action once who saved well in a 1v1. Half way through the second half we regained the lead through Easthope, who finished coolly after Niall Flint’s long range shot was diverted into his path by Dominic Smith. 

Unfortunately Easthope’s goal failed to spark the bright movement and crisp passing we saw in the first 30 minutes and Stoke continued keeping the majority of possession and eventually we allowed the Stoke attacker too much room inside the penalty area and they equalised. Not befitting the state of the game we responded quickly and re-took the lead through Josh Ginnelly’s low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards. With that goal Stoke lost their enthusiasm and dropped off to allow us to play. 2 minutes before the end, we played out from the back and left back Jack Richards ran with the ball from deep into the Stoke penalty ball where the ball fell kindly for Sam Molyneux who placed the ball into the corner.