STAFFORD 1ST XV vs SHREWSBURY 1ST XV. 13TH JANUARY 2018. LEAGUE MATCH.

Stafford 30 – 41 Stafford

Stafford welcomes a travelling Shrewsbury to the county ground for the first home fixture of 2018. The visitors came as one of only two teams holding a win over the hosts in the league this season.

A jittery start by Stafford led to two quick penalties for Shrewsbury which gave the Salopian travellers early points. Stafford tried to respond but couldn’t find the composure to hold the next surging Shrewsbury attack which ended in a converted try adding to the lead. The home side reorganised building some penetrating phases of play, Dean Fuggle making the room for Stelian-Christian Ureche to rip through the defence with a final pass to Louis Dewsbury for the try, the conversion added by Stelian-Christian Ureche. Stafford started to exert some strong pressure and in defending their line Shrewsbury got the first yellow card of the afternoon to reduce them to fourteen on the pitch. A subsequent Stafford penalty was slotted through the posts by Stelian-Christian Ureche to cut the deficit to three points. The Shrewsbury response was immediate as they broke through several tackles for a converted try. With the visitors back up to a full compliment Stafford grappled back control to resume the assault and pushed Shrewsbury back into defence deep in their own half. Several probing attacks were repelled but the visitors couldn’t contain a Neil Green foray which brushed off the remaining defenders for the try, converted by Stelian-Christian Ureche. Stafford went into half time trailing 17 – 20 but having fought their way back into a difficult match.

The second half opened ominously for Stafford when an early yellow card reduced them to fourteen on the pitch followed by Shrewsbury powering through the scrum and pouncing on a loose ball for a further try. Stafford settled into some good periods of play and added a further penalty to their total through the boot of Stelian-Christian Ureche to reduce the visitors lead to a single converted try. With fifteen players back on the pitch Stafford lost focus allowing Shrewsbury to reap the advantage through two converted tries and opening up a sizeable lead. With the clock against them Stafford battled hard but couldn’t find a way past the visitor’s defence. With less than five minutes remaining a frantic Stafford raised the tempo to carve through the previously solid defence and Toran Spelman crashed across the line for an unconverted try. As the final minutes of game expired there was time for one last Stafford surge as Callum Hoy sprinted past and ran over defenders to grab a final try and secure the try bonus point.