Shrewsbury Town earn a win in the Papa John's Trophy group stage over Wolverhamton Wanderers' under 21's.
Shrewsbury Town came from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers U21’s 3-1 at a bitterly cold Montgomery Waters Meadow in their second EFL Trophy group stage fixture.
Second-half goals from Tom Bloxham, Louis Lloyd and Rekeil Pyke saw Salop climb into second place in Group C ahead of the final group game against Wigan Athletic next month.
Following on from Saturday’s 2-1 Sky Bet League One defeat away to Bolton Wanderers, Salop boss Steve Cotterill made nine changes to face the young Wolves side.
The visitors took the lead just past the half an hour mark, when a good close-range save from Harry Burgoyne, fell to the feet of Owen Hesketh who fired the rebound home.
Callum Wilson had the best chance of the first half for the home side when he chested a long ball over the top down beautifully in the box but was only able to hit the side netting.
Salop started the second half a lot better and thought they had found their equaliser in the 52nd minute. Half-time substitute Mathew Pennington got on the end of Nathanael Ogbeta’s free-kick but the referee’s assistant had his flag raised.
Despite Salop being the more dominant side in the second half, the visitors thought they had doubled three minutes later when a header from Conor Carty seemed destined to go in the top corner, but a terrific save from Burgoyne at full stretch tipped the ball over the bar.
However, Salop finally got their equaliser 72 minutes in after Bloxham was put in by Khanya Leshabela before comfortably slotting the ball into the bottom corner for only his second senior goal. The home side got their second and took the lead five minutes later when on his senior debut, Lloyd got on the end of a fine Ogbeta cross from the left-hand side to head Salop Infront.
85 minutes in, Hesketh thought he’d equalised for the young Wolves side as he was left unmarked on the edge of the box and fired an absolute rocket onto the crossbar.
Salop sealed the victory in second half stoppage time when Sam Cosgrove placed a pass across goal to Pyke who slotted home with ease.
Shrewsbury Town now turn their attention back to league action on Saturday as they travel to Ipswich Town.
The teams:
Salop: Harry Burgoyne, Ethan Ebanks-Landell (Matthew Pennington, 45), Aaron Pierre (George Nurse, 45), Sam Cosgrove, Nathanael Ogbeta, Rekeil Pyke, Tom Bloxham, Charlie Caton, Louis Lloyd (Luke Leahy, 90), Khanya Leshabela, Callum Wilson.
Subs not used: Marko Marosi, Ryan Bowman, Dan Udoh, David Davis.
Wolves U21: Loui Moulden, Michael Agboola (Filozofe Mabete, 45), Pascal Estrada, Raphael Nya (Lee Harkin, 81), Dexter Lembiska, Harry Birtwistle, Luke Cundle, Owen Hesketh, Jack Hodnett, Conor Carty, Chem Campbell.
Subs not used: Joe O'Shaughnessy, Marvin Kaleta, Aaron Keto-Diyawa, Erik Bugarin, Tyler Roberts.
Officials:
Referee: Benjamin Speedie
Assistants: Steven Plane and Paul Stonier
Fourth Official: Aaron Jackson
Bookings:
Louis Lloyd was shown the first yellow card of the evening for a foul on the edge of the Salop box shortly before the half-time break.
