Shrewsbury Town and AFC Telford United drew in Town's first pre-season game.
Shrewsbury held possession well in the opening minutes of the local derby. Their first good opportunity came from the good work of freshly returned Rekeil Pyke - who spent the second half of last season out on loan at Scunthorpe United - as he collected Dan Udoh's through-ball on the right-wing and took it to the byline. From there, he beat his man and cut into the penalty area before finding Udoh, whose shot from 12 yards was blocked by a Telford defender.
The next chance for Salop was taken by Matt Pennington who - in a position he scored from last season - ran onto Luke Leahy's corner and headed the ball across goal from the front post. Fortunatley for the home side, it crept just past the far upright.
Shorty before the half-hour mark, Shrewsbury had their best chance so far when Udoh, Leahy, and George Nurse were set loose on a counter attack. Udoh cut in from the right wing and played it to Leahy on the edge of the box. Leahy passed it to Nurse who was in space on the left hand side but he was closed down quickly and his shot was deflected wide.
Steve Cotterill made four changes at the half-time break, replacing Nurse with Jordan Shipley and slotting Leahy into left-back before replacing Pyke with Julien Dacosta, Tom Bloxham with Ryan Bowman, and Josh Barlow with Tom Bayliss in straight swaps.
It was a slow half in which Telford had the best of the chances - including a free header that inexplicably went wide wide in the 82nd minute - but Shrewsbury still controlled possession and crafted chances of their own. Tom Flanagan sent a looping header goalward shortly after the hour mark, but Telford's goalkeeper did well to palm it over the crossbar.
Dan Udoh also came close from a cross at the death when he jumped highest to meet Taylor Moore's cross but he couldn't divert the ball back across goal and it fell just short of the near post and the game finished as a draw.
Teams
Telford XI: Pilling (GK), Dugmore, Flowers, Piggott, Bood, Nolan, Ekpolo, Moore, Jae Chong, Green, Blissett
Salop XI: Marosi (GK), Leahy, Pennington, Moore, Udoh (C) (Caton, 87'), Pyke (Dacosta, 46'), Bloxham (Bowman, 46'), Dunkley, Nurse (Shipley, 46'), Barlow (Bayliss, 46'), Flanagan
Unused subs: Burgoyne (GK), Bevan (GK)
