Boldmere St. Michaels Yth 0 - 2 AFC Telford
The Mikes youth team was unable to translate their first half performance into goals and slipped to a 2-0 home defeat against the leaders of the Midland Floodlit Youth League Premier Division North
The visitors started at a pace but the home defence stood firm and Lewis Fenney in the home goal was largely untroubled.
The Mikes then got on top and enjoyed their best spells of attacking play. Leon Weller was causing the visitors all kinds of problems but too often play was breaking down as his colleagues looked to get the ball to him.
The Mikes were ruing their misfortune when Chris Ward unleashed a 25-yarder which thudded back off the bar with the visiting keeper a mere spectator. Moments later the Mikes had a very decent shout for a penalty when a visiting defender flattened Leon Weller.
Worse was to follow when the visitors took the lead with a classic sucker punch. A long punt upfield wasn’t dealt with and the ball was slipped neatly past Fenney for a half-time lead.
With a half time rollicking still ringing in their ears, the visitors took a stranglehold of the game two minutes after the restart. A routine long throw was flicked on at the near post to leave a simple header at the far post for 2-0. The visitors were now firmly in control and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to fashion much in the way of clear cut chances.
The Mikes battled hard to get back in the game and came on strongly in the last quarter hour. Weller was again prominent and whipped in a wonderful cross that was just too high for sub Tom Powell. Weller then flashed a great effort inches wide with the keeper beaten. It seemed that one of those chances needed to go in to give the Mikes a lifeline, which proved to be the case as the visitors showed their title credentials by winding down the clock efficiently to secure the win.
Frustrations boiled over in injury time, when Mikes captain James Walker reacted to being on the receiving end of a nasty foul, getting a needless red card for his trouble, while the visiting defender was yellow carded for the original challenge.
