Ammar Ahsan nets a birthday treble

The young forward netted two crucial quickfire first-half goals and rounded off his personal haul with Telford’s fifth in the 7-2 victory over Sikh Union.

The home side fell behind in the high-scoring encounter but levelled soon after through Calum Stacey before Ahsan’s double – which came at a crucial time as Midlands 3 outfit Telford had just gone a man down due to a yellow card.

Stacey was on the scoresheet again through a short corner after the restart but Union would not go away and netted to make the score 4-2.

But Ahsan, who celebrated his birthday the day before the clash, completed his treble after a fine dribbled assist from Tom Gough.

Dominic Ashley’s short corner made it six for the hosts before they completed the rout through England Under-18 starlet Barney Bithell’s trademark reverse stick shot into the bottom corner.

Defender Jon Woodrow said: “Ammar had just celebrated turning 18 the day before so it was nice for him to get the goals.

“He worked hard and took them well.

“He came through our youth set-up and it’s his last season for us because he’s off to Uni next year.

“We’ve got guys who have played at a higher level but he’s a good player.”

Woodrow felt, despite going in 3-1 at the break, that the Nottingham visitors had matched their hosts in an even first period.

But Telford’s superior fitness and quality shone through in the second half as four more goals blew Union away.

He added: “It was a good result for us. We’ve played Sikh Union over a number of years and they’re always pretty close games.

“The first half was pretty even. We didn’t play as well but we scored at the right time.

“The second half we played a lot better and did not give up many chances. Our fitness showed we’re a really strong side.”

Telford are fourth in Midlands 3 and face a stern test of their title credentials with a trip to rivals Chesterfield, who are top with an identical record, on Saturday.