Points shared between Town and Rochdale in the EFL Youth Alliance
THE Shrewsbury U-18’s drew 0-0 with Rochdale in a frustrating game but produced a performance which showed a lot of promise.
It was a game of two halves, the first being an equal affair with neither side producing anything of note. The second half, however, was dominated in terms of possession and chances by Shrewsbury.
The young side had plenty of opportunities to take the lead with the best chance coming from the penalty spot in the 84th minute. Trialist Courtney Perkins was brought down in the area after working his way past two defenders, Luke Ward stepped up to take the penalty but placed the spot-kick wide of the post
The Shrews thought they had scored the winner in injury time when Charlie Caton broke through the tiring defence and blasted an effort goalwards only for it to hit the crossbar. The ball dropped to Archie Elmore, but he tapped the follow-up wide.
Rochdale’s keeper produced a series of brave saves to deny the young shrews, including a double stop from Caton and Ward.
Despite the frustration at not being able to find a goal, there were plenty of positives to take from the game, including Courtney Perkins stepping up from U-16 level and impressing with his exciting runs and crossing abilities.
There is no game next week for the U-18’s and they are next in action when they take on Blackpool away in the Cup.
Town: 1 Jaden Bevan, 2 Zak Hartley, 3 Dan Walker, 4 James Rowland (c), 5 Tom Davies, 6 Luke Ward, 7 Nigel Aris (13 Lewis Redding 45’), 8 Ethan O’Toole (15 Archie Elmore 67’), 9 Charlie Caton, 10 Ryan Grosvenor, 11 Liam Thomas (14 Courtney Perkins 45’) Subs: 12 Sam Agius, 16 Edan Sears