Sunday brought about the start of the season for Telford Town u18s after a huge overhaul in the squad this season. With so many players aging out, only 5 players remained after the hugely disappointing 2025/26 season. The opposition were Wrockwardine Wood u17 Reds who had started the season well with a strong win against Bridgnorth Spartans, & clearly have designs on pushing for title honours this season.

With exciting winger Kenzie Richards missing for the opening day, Town chose to play a much more narrow formation, to try & control the middle of the park early on. Any early width was provided from an advanced Tyler Davies on the right, & the marauding left back Boti Berenyi down the left. Indeed most of the home sides good play was started down the left flank as Berenyi constantly pounced on Wrockwardine passes & drove forwards, as well as rattling the post early on.

Up until the water break, it was a tense affair, with neither team truly taking control, & that tension had started to bring out one or two tasty challenges. Both sides were not afraid of getting stuck in & injuries occurred with Wrockwardine having to make a change, whilst a broken thumb for the home side didn’t bring about a change.

As new midfielder Josh Blagbrough started to take some control for Town, & his long throws to Captain Oscar Lavelle became a bigger threat, Town took the lead. A poor clearance in the 26th minute came out of the box to Seb Knowles who played a lovely low cross into the box, which was met by Lavelle in front of the keeper, sliding the ball into the open net. Town were well worth their lead. The challenges kept coming & midfielder Liam Davies found himself in the book towards the break as he left a late one on the away team’s left back.

The second half continued in the same vein as Telford continued to push forward, using the long throw, the Captain’s height, & the growing confidence to push forward. But that push for a second started to open up opportunities at the other end. Berenyi’s runs forward had started opening up gaps for Wrockers number 20, both wingers started to use the space wide to put Town under some pressure. That finally ended on 64 minutes with a scrappy goal from a corner to make the game 1-1.

The big question of how would Town react came within 2 minutes. Man of the Match Blagbrough carefully threaded a ball through to Alfie Newnes in the box & he kept the ball under close control, beat 3 players & smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner. No more than Town deserved.

The next 25 minutes saw the tension ramp up as Wrockwardine pushed for an equaliser, leaving more space at the back for Tyler Davies & Newnes to start getting on the ball more & more. Blagbrough saw yellow, & Telford started to make changes to add some fresh legs. One substitute, returning winger Will Coxhill, then found himself in the book as he attempted to get into the pace of the game as it swung one side to the other.

Then finally, into injury time, Coxhill played the ball through to Tyler Davies who ball rolled the keeper & sat him down, then struck the ball past 2 sliding defenders from an angle. Tempers flared a little, but amazingly it was Harvey Rudkin who turned peacekeeper, which is not his normal role.

Reflecting on the victory, Coach Pete Davies said, “It’s only one game, but the signs are positive this season. We played a strong side in Wrockwardine with some good players, some of whom beat us only a few weeks ago in a friendly, so we knew they would come here looking to win. Defensively we look pretty solid, we have intelligence in the midfield that can pick apart any team, & real pace all throughout the team. We knew it would take some time for players to gel, but having Coached several of these boys previously, I know their character & they won’t let Telford Town down.”

Telford Town u18s are back at home in Burton Borough again next Sunday against Bridgnorth Spartans u17 Red.