Birmingham enjoyed a comprehensive win at the start of their defence of the Midland Counties Youth Championship, with in-form Matthew Lewis adding more goals to his County tally. Both teams created chances throughout the first 15 minutes, but the link-up play displayed by Birmingham was too much for Shropshire to contend with. Matthew Lewis headed in his first on 18 minutes and his second just 3 minutes later. The goal frenzy continued on 25 minutes with Andy Cameron meeting a Robbie Meacham cross to net Birmingham's third. Despite all their efforts, Shropshire could only contain the home side, who continued to threaten throughout the first half. Having built a comfortable scoreline, Martin Sweeney's side could be forgiven for beginning to plan for next Saturday's FA County Cup 3rd Round tie. However, the final 5 minutes saw another flurry of goals after Birmingham had maintained their pressure throughout. Marconi (Coventry) FC's Matthew O'Rourke, Hednesford Town's Patrick Flaherty and Bedworth's Phil Garner all got a slice of the action replacing Andy Cameron, Ronnie Sayer and Robbie Meacham during the second half. O'Rourke made his stake for a starting place in the team with defence-splitting crosses - Andy Morris and Gary White converting 2 in the space of 2 minutes. Team Spokesman Steve Poole said: It's great to get such a resounding win under our belts - the players up front gave the Shropshire defence all kinds of problems. We didn't want to risk any injuries before next week, but I think we let things get a bit too untidy at times." Birmingham take on East Riding in the prestigious FA County Youth Cup at Ray Hall Lane on Saturday (9th December) - kicking off at the earlier time of 1.30pm. We can't afford to be sloppy next week," he added. "East Riding will punish us if we give them half a chance - so there's plenty to work on before then. Nevertheless, we have had a great start to this competition with vital points in the bag." |