AFC Telford United vs Gresley Rovers
AFC Telford Utd 0-4 Gresley Rovers
Telford was much of an unknown quantity with this being their first season in this league, although beating Tamworth and other top sides shows their worth.
Playing at the England training ground Lilishall was a first and some of the players were giving that bit extra just in case Sven was having a walk around!
With the wind behind us in the first half it was important to make it count but it was Telford who looked more lively creating the first half chance but firing wide.
When Gresley settled Telford found it hard to clear their lines and it was the prolific Jack Ward that made the breakthrough with a delightful curling shot into the top right corner of the net.
Chances fell to both strikers Donovan Muir and Alex Bolt but it was Jack Coulson who scored the second goal. He timed his run to perfection to meet a corner from the left and fired a volley in at the far post.
This was the score line until half time and we knew then that the hard work was to come. With the wind in our faces we knew that with our pace we could catch them on the break as this is one of our best attributes.
Telford, as we thought, started to see more of the ball but our defensive organisation was superb and proved to be very solid and we used this to our advantage. We broke from right back with the outstanding Joe Brockley working the line and involving Bolt and Johnnie Guthrie before Bolt played a delightful ball to Muir who slotted in from 12 yards.
Bolt then turned provider into scorer when a long ball from midfielder Tyrone found Bolt beating the offside trap and drilling the ball into the bottom right.
All in all it was a good solid performance with only a few minuses but many pluses. It would be wrong to single out any one player but the whole team deserved praise for their defensive determination. We defended from the front and Telford found it hard to find any room on the pitch to play their football, we on the other hand became three dimensional playing short passing then long passing, keep ball and hitting on the break.
Performance rating 8/10 if we can keep this type of team playing together for the rest of the season I cannot see many points being dropped.
Dean amess (asst manager)
