Shortwood fell to defeat against Hellenic Premier side Pershore Town in the fourth round of the Marsh Challenge Cup on a bright afternoon at Meadowbank, and but for two goals in as many minutes at the end of the first half, the game was relatively even throughout.

Wood had the better of the opening exchanges, Olly Whelan nodded Nathan Payne’s corner across goal, and a few minutes later Tom King played a dangerous cross straight through the six yard box which no-one was able to connect with. Ollie Price then did well to rob Pershore of possession in their own area, but was unable to find Dan Gayner with his cutback.
It took twenty minutes before Pershore fashioned their first chance of note, some nice interplay on the edge of the box producing space for Jordan Jones, but his shot was ably tipped over the bar by Joe Wright in the Wood goal.
On the half hour mark Wood threatened again, a nice reverse ball from Elliot King finding Gayner in behind, but he was unable to bend his effort past Joe Stockton. Five minutes later a perfectly weighted through ball from King released Gayner down the left, before the ball was recycled to King once more, who played another dangerous cross in which looked destined for Price to sweep home, but, with a Pershore defender challenging for it, he failed to connect at all.
Pershore broke the deadlock just a few moments later, a quick free-kick releasing Petar Tonchev, who found Aidan Clark completely free ten yards out, his shot rather fortunately hitting his teammate Harlie Price and bundling into the net.
Before Shortwood could take a breath, suddenly the deficit doubled. A strong run from Jones resulted in a low ball into Price, who was eventually smothered, but it fell to Clark, who once again got a bit lucky with his finish, this time the recovering Joe Tryner deflecting it in virtually on his goal-line. Only another brilliant piece of work from Wright, tipping Clark’s effort over, kept the contest alive before the break.

The second half was less eventful on the whole, with Pershore controlling the tempo for the most part, but rarely looking like extending their advantage. Clark threatened once again just after the restart, but could only fire over, and Jones came within a whisker of rounding off a nice team move.
Wood only really provided danger on a couple of occasions themselves, first Payne beating Nathan Benson before shooting against Matt Nutt, then two substitutes combined, Keegan Bowes cutting in from the right before feeding Jack Gardner, who was unlucky to see his effort creep past the far post.

All in all a disappointing outcome for Shortwood, but there were signs of promise which they’ll be hoping to build on in their match up with Kidlington Reserves next weekend.

Shortwood: Wright, Williams (bowes), King T, King E, Tryner, Whelam, Payne (Cronin), Kent (Richardson, Price (Gardner), Martin, Gayner

Shortwood United

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