Shrewsbury Town Youth 0
Wrexham Youth 2
Football League Youth Alliance (North West Conference)

Match Report

The young Dragons put the disappointment of the previous Wednesday’s penalty shootout defeat at Oldham quickly behind them with a fine victory at Shrewsbury. “We did alright,” explained Steve Cooper after the game.

"The Cup game was disappointing, as were the defeats by Wigan, so it made this win even better. We really wanted a decent Cup run so the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. So it was a good sign of the players’ character and mentality to go to Shrewsbury and win,” he added. “We dominated the game from the start – the lads looked up for it from the first minute. It quickly looked like we were going to do alright because the lads were very motivated.”

The tight pitch didn’t suit the Dragons’ preferred style of play – with two wingers playing a prominent role – but they moved the ball around well. Unfortunately, and despite having loads of good quality possession, they couldn’t create any real clear-cut chances in the first half.

“I told the lads during the break to keep ding what they were doing, but just try and be more creative,” said Steve. The pep talk soon had the desired affect as the Dragons grabbed a 55th minute lead. Jack Jones won possession in midfield and found Mark Stewart. The striker half-turned and slid the ball through for strike-partner Mark Head who bent the ball round the advancing keeper with the outside of his left foot from 20 yards out.

Johnny Hunt cleared off the line in a rare moment of danger in front of Chris Maxwell’s goal but generally the Dragons continued to dominate and were rewarded with a second goal after 75 minutes. Paul Williams found Hunt in the left back position, who in turn slid the ball down the line to substitute Luke Carding. He skipped past his marker and whipped a great ball into the six-yard box and a defender, with Mark Stewart and Mark Head waiting to pounce, inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net.