Comfortable win for Town at Market Drayton in the Shropshire Senior Cup
Shrewsbury Town eased into the final of the Shropshire Senior Cup with a resounding 6-0 win at Market Drayton Town this afternoon. The non-league side bravely held out ‘til the break, although much of that was down to an excellent display from 17 year old home keeper Ash Rawlings. The Drayton number one kept out efforts from Jordan Clark, Junior Brown and James Collins to ensure the first 45 minutes ended goalless. But when Micky Mellon demonstrated the huge strength in depth at his disposal by changing the entire side at the halfway stage, the home side capitulated under intense pressure with the second 45 spent almost entirely in their half of the Greenfields pitch.Rawlings had already kept out Tyrone Barnett with the save of the match and saved again moments later from Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, but he was eventually beaten from the resultant corner. Liam Lawrence swung the ball over and there was Barnett to nod the opener five minutes in. Martin Woods got his name on the scoresheet when a really nice bit of build-up play involving Shaun Whalley and Scott Vernon down the right hand side picked out Akpa Akpro on the left. He laid off an inviting pass for Woods who picked his spot to fire low past Rawlings to double the Town lead on 55 minutes.
Jermaine Grandison curled a superb effort inches wide before Scott Vernon got the first of a hat-trick of goals inside 13 minutes. Vernon pounced to stab home after Whalley’s initial shot had landed kindly for the striker, and when Drayton lost possession quickly from the kick-off he was on hand to calmly stroke the ball into the bottom corner of the net to make it 4-0 with 20 minutes left.
Drayton – who were able to use all five of their subs – were left chasing shadows as Town underlined the gulf in class with barely a single pass falling to an opposing player. Eight minutes from the end, Vernon looped a header over Rawlings from the impressive Whalley’s cross, and after Paul McMullen had headed away Mickey Demetriou’s far post header to prevent a sixth, the respite was oh-so-brief for the out of breath hosts. Whalley again did the bulk of the damage in the right hand channel and when he delivered an inch perfect cross, in came Demetriou to bullet home the header.
This was a decent work out for Mellon’s side – both of them – and the result was an emphatic one. It didn’t flatter them at all.
Market Drayton Town: Rawlings, Wellings, Ward, Wealdon, McMullen (c), Hedley, Campbell, McFarlane, Everell, Houghton, O’Reilly
Second half subs: O’Neill, McGowan, Iofona, Garrett, Street
Shrewsbury Town (first half): Leutwiler, Tootle, Sadler, Woods R, Smith, Goldson (c), Clark, McKnight, Collins, McAlinden, Brown
(Second half): Burton, Patterson, Demetriou, Ellis, Grandison, Woods M, Lawrence, Vernon, Whalley, Akpa Akpro, Barnett