Shifnal Town edged out as Haughmond pick up win

The Beeches has never been one of Shifnal’s happier hunting grounds, and Saturday proved to be no different.

In fairness to the hosts, they just about deserved their victory, but were made to work very hard for it.

Facing the slope, the Shifnal defence put in a sterling performance to keep a clean sheet at half-time.

The lively Elliott Hartley caused all sorts of problems on the Shifnal left and only some excellent goalkeeping by George Scott and some profligate finishing denied him.

He should have scored after just three minutes when he arrived late at the far post to a ball in from the left, but blazed over from close range.

It was not all one-way traffic and home keeper Peter Hawk was called upon to make a fine save in the 10th minute to keep out Brandon Tanomjit’s 20-yard strike.

Hartley was through on the Town goal on 15 minutes, but Scott saved superbly at his feet.

A minute later, Hartley’s 18-yard volley was equalled by a flying save from Scott to turn the ball over the crossbar.

Midway through the half, Hartley was again played through, but he dragged his shot wide from 20 yards.

Liam Palmer set up Callum Graybrook for the visitors in the 34th minute, but his shot from just outside the penalty area was a yard too high.

The second half was very different and Andre Brown’s low drive was saved at the near post by Hawk.

Darragh Bustin’s fierce angled drive came back off the angle of post and crossbar, but Town continued to have more of the play and Matthew Barnes-Homer set up Graybrook in the 63rd minute, but Hawk saved well from his shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Jason Wood burst through for the hosts on 72 minutes, but his well-struck 25-yard shot was narrowly wide.

The only goal of the game came after 82 minutes, when the visitors’ defence were all at sea from a Brad Welding free-kick, allowing Hartley to slam home the loose ball from 12 yards. Shifnal had a glorious chance to grab an equaliser a minute before the end, but substitute Josh Hesson blasted over the crossbar from 15 yards.

Haughmond claimed a vital 1-0 win over Midland Premier relegation rivals Uttoxeter Town at Shrewsbury Sports Village.

Sam Yeardley scored the only goal of the game as the Mond – who started the weekend second bottom of the table – climbed above not only their opponents, but Wolverhampton Casuals as well.

Whitchurch Alport may have advanced in the FA Vase and the TJ Vickers Cup this month, but they have hit a minor rut in the league.

Their 2-0 defeat at AFC Wulfrunians on Saturday was their second Midland Premier defeat on the bounce.

Tom Ray and Dominic Dell both scored inside the opening 22 minutes to leave Alport in a position they would not recover from.

Whitchurch – now 10th in the table – travel to second-placed Lichfield City on Wednesday (7.45pm).

AFC Bridgnorth may still be third bottom of Midland One, but they moved level on points with fourth-bottom county rivals Shawbury United thanks to a crucial 1-0 victory at Chelmsley Town on Saturday.

Will Reid got Bridgnorth’s only goal against Chelmsley, who are the next side the Shropshire sides are chasing currently five points back.

Second-bottom Khalsa Football Federation are next up for Bridgnorth in another crucial game on Saturday.

Shawbury United missed the chance to close the gap on Chelmsley as they went down 2-0 at home to Nuneaton Griff, for whom substitutes Joe Miles and Chanda Mulenga scored. United are ahead of Bridgnorth by virtue of having a better goal difference by 16.

Ellesmere Rangers slipped to a late defeat at Brocton in North West Counties League Division One South.

The Badgers took the lead through Regan Smith, only for Rangers’ Karl Bailey to pull things level nine minutes before the interval.

However, Ben Haddaway struck in stoppage time to leave Ellesmere 10th in the table.

Rock-bottom St Martins crashed to a 6-0 reverse at Eccleshall.

They have now lost 26 of their 28 matches this season, conceding 162 goals in the process.