Warwickshire & West Midlands Sport

Third place for Town

Shifnal Town 1 Stratford Town 1
SAM ALSOP grabbed a late equaliser to earn Stratford an Aspire Midland Alliance draw on Saturday which secured a third place finish in the table.
The visitors dominated throughout but looked like ending up with nothing until Alsop popped up with his 76th minute point-saver but third place was only confirmed after fellow challengers Tipton Town were held to a 1-1 draw by champions Barwell.
Town, looking to continue from their ten goal hammering of Cradley Town in their previous outing, almost took an early lead through Alsop who was only just off target with a long range effort.
The visitors were unlucky in the 15th minute when a powerful 25-yard shot from Nick Pugh rattled the post and keeper Dave Jones prevented Tim Jackson from converting the rebound.
But, totally against the run of play, Shifnal went ahead in the 21st minute when Andy Davies climbed well to head home a free kick from Liam Turner.
Town responded and Mark Faulds blazed over after good work by Dave Pearson, while Jones kept out a header from Alsop before following up with magnificent saves to deny Faulds and Barry Woolley in quick succession.
Stratford maintained their domination after the interval but struggled to break down the home defence and were restricted to a couple of long range efforts from Alsop which were deflected for fruitless corners.
But Town were finally rewarded 14 minutes from time when Tommy Warmer delivered a cross which Pearson cleverly headed into the path of the tireless Alsop who fired home from close range.
Stratford piled on the pressure in search of a winner and substitute Mark Smith rattled the bar with a header from a Cameron Jones cross and then shot over after good work by Woolley.
At the other end Chris Mole had to be alert to keep out an effort from substitute Tom Griffin but Stratford continued to look the most likely winners with Smith and Jones both wasting good chances in the closing stages.
Town boss Rod Brown said: “This game was similar to what has happened so often this season in that we have had umpteen chances but only managed to take one of them. 
“But at the end that one strike was crucial as it meant that we secured third spot in the final table which is what we wanted at the start of the game.”

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