Haughmond sunk, but Shawbury United can still save themselves

South Normanton Athletic were victors on the same night – 4-2 over Sporting Khalsa – meaning the Shrewsbury club can no longer haul themselves into safety.

With the Football Association undertaking a restructure of the non-league pyramid this summer, Haughmond may yet get a reprieve. But they need to make sure they finish as high as possible, with a trip to Rocester to come tomorrow (3pm), followed by their final league match of the season at home to Heanor Town on Thursday.

All the goals in their clash at Coventry on Wednesday came in the last 31 minutes.

United led in the 59th minute, but that merely preceded Haughmond’s five-goal blitz, with Steve Hole equalising almost immediately before Scott Ryan, Connor Courtney, Joe Parry and Jamie Hyne completed the rout.

The two sides had met last weekend too, with Andy Jones heading a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

Shawbury United remain second-bottom following Haughmond’s Wednesday win, but they have enough games to still haul themselves out of the bottom three.

Their 3-0 triumph over Loughborough University at Ludlow in midweek reduced the gap between the two sides to eight points and saw Loughborough slip to fourth-bottom as a result.

They must now win at least three – if not all four – of their final matches, starting with a trip to Highgate United tomorrow (3pm).

A trio of home encounters then bring their season to a close – against Quorn on Monday (6pm), South Normanton Athletic on Thursday (6pm) and Coleshill Town the following Saturday (3pm).

The Midland League extended its season by an extra week to accommodate the backlog of fixtures caused by the cold and wet weather this season.