Pre-Season Friendly - Tuesday 18th July 2023, 7:45 p.m. kick-off
Shifnal Town 3 (1) Bromsgrove Sporting 0 (0) at The Acoustafoam Stadium
After overcoming higher division Hereford at home last weekend, Bromsgrove Sporting came down to earth with a bump as they lost heavily to Midland Football League side Shifnal Town in their fourth pre-season friendly.
To be fair to the Rouslers, the initial line-up was almost totally different from the team that saw off their previous opponents and contained four trialists.
It felt more like an autumn evening in the pleasant Shropshire town with a cool wind blowing and drizzle coming down but that did not seem to worry the home team who got into their stride quickly forcing Sporting to concede a free-kick just outside the box from the kick-off. Two more chances quickly followed as the Rouslers struggled to get up field and into their opponents half.
With 14 minutes on the clock, the Reds took a deserved lead when captain Joe Cuff got behind the Bromsgrove back-line and scored with a well-struck angled shot that went past Ollie Taylor and into the net off the left-hand post.
As much as Sporting attempted to get into the game, circumstances conspired against them with Shifnal giving them no time on the ball causing passes to go astray and players unable retain possession. They did though have a chance to get even on the 20th minute when a shot skimmed the bar following a useful set-up by Jack Newell. Unfortunately for Newell he sustained an injury a few minutes later and had to be substituted by Billy Shaw.
The home team could have increased their lead with a couple of the minutes of the half to go when they gained a penalty but as with the match last week, Ollie Taylor guessed correctly, dived low to his left and diverted the spot-kick out for a corner.
After the interval, Shifnal kept up the pressure and were unlucky not to score when Ollie Taylor lost possession outside his area but the resulting cross was hit into the side netting.
Sporting started playing much better football, moving the ball well and making the home side run around more. However with 70 minutes gone, David Soladami slipped just outside the box losing possession to Joe Kenton who had no problem firing past Taylor to give his team their second on the night.
Sporting's woes increased a couple of minutes later when a late tackle by Dan Preston was judged to be last man so off he went for an early shower.
Shifnal completed their scoring on 82 minutes with one of their trialists winning tackle just in front of Sporting's penalty area then sliding past Taylor to complete a tidy win.
Sporting line-up: Ollie Taylor, Trialist 1, David Soladami, Jack Newell (Billy Shaw 37 mins), Dan Preston, Tom Taylor (Aaron Roberts 67 mins), Trialist 2 (Kieron Berry 71 mins), Keanu Cooper (Mike McGrath 46 mins), Trialist 3, Blake Kindred, Trialist 4 (David McQuaide 46 mins)
Crowd: ~ 160