Thomas Telford to represent Town in Wembley final
Shrewsbury Town will be represented at Wembley this month in the Football League's Girls Cup final.
Thomas Telford School's under-13 girls side won the right to represent the club in the national six-a-side competition earlier this season and have impressively marched on through several rounds to clinch a dream appearance at Wembley.
They prevailed at their regional final at Leeds last week and will now take on Broadstone Middle School, who are representing Championship club AFC Bournemouth, at Wembley on Sunday, March 30 before the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.
The Thomas Telford girls had earlier triumphed in the area final which was hosted at the Greenhous Meadow and organised by Lee Pugh from the club's Community Trust.
It is a brilliant achievement as no fewer than 727 teams featuring more than 5,800 girls entered the prestigious competition this season.
This is the eighth season the Football League has run the competition but it the first time a side representing either Shrewsbury Town or AFC Bournemouth has made it to the final.
Both sides will now be aiming to climb the Wembley steps to lift the trophy won by Derby County last season.
To get to this stage, they have already had to win through several rounds.
The Football League's 72 clubs first held their own qualifying events back in the autumn in order to select a local school team to go on to represent them in the competition.
The Shrewsbury Town and AFC Bournemouth sides were then among the eight club representative teams that triumphed in the area finals.
The final promises to be a closely fought encounter after the pair then progressed from last week's northern and southern regional finals with impressive qualification records.
Shrewsbury faced Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town and Notts County in the northern final at Leeds, remaining unbeaten in the group stage without conceding a goal before beating Notts County 2-0 in the final.
AFC Bournemouth took on Cheltenham Town, Gillingham and Watford in the southern regional final, hosted by Watford. A 100 per cent record, scoring six goals in their three games without conceding, saw them top the group and claim their place at Wembley.
As part of their prize for battling their way through to the final, both teams will now receive new kits from Football League partners Mitre, and will be treated to a special behind the scenes tour of Wembley before taking to the hallowed turf for the all-important final.
Martin James, head of community development at Shrewsbury Town, congratulated the Thomas Telford girls on an "outstanding achievement" in progressing to the final.
He added: "Shrewsbury Town are delighted to have a presence at the final and give our best wishes and support to the girls at Thomas Telford School.
"We hope they have a magnificent and successful day out. It will remain in their memories for ever.
"It's interesting that my wife actually attended the school who are representing AFC Bournemouth and it's my home town, but I shall most certainly be rooting for Shrewsbury Town of course!"