Solihull Moors have booked their place in Round Four of this season’s FA Trophy, after a 2-0 victory against AFC Telford United this evening. Despite a strong effort from the away side, goals from substitutes Joe Sbarra and Ryan Barnett ensured the Moors will host fellow National League side Barnet in round four next month.
Let’s dive into the full highlights from the match, including the squad selection and man of the match…
Starting Line-Up
Manager Neal Ardley made seven changes from the side that picked up a 2-1 victory against Oldham Athletic in the clubs previous match, having had their last three matches postponed due to the weather. There was a professional debut for youngster Kian Ryley, who came into the clubs midfield. Callum Maycock and Callum Howe both returned from long-term injury lay-offs to feature this evening. Only Ryan Boot, Kyle Storer, Ben Coker and Josh Kelly retained their places in the starting eleven, with the other seven featuring on the bench or were rested.
Starting XI: Boot (GK) ; Vaughan, Kelleher, Howe, Coker ; Maycock, Storer, Whelan ; Ryley, Donawa, Kelly (4-3-3)
Subs: Moulden (GK), Clarke, Gudger, Sbarra, Dallas, Barnett, Howell
0' Kick Off (Solihull Moors 0-0 AFC Telford United)
The match finally got itself underway, having been delayed by 15 minutes due to an issue at the Armco Arena. The opening effort of the game arrived after just four minutes, when Solihull forward Josh Kelly found himself in space in the penalty area, however his effort was blocked by Telford and the resulting corner was cleared away.
Kelly was involved again just minutes later, when he found himself in space just outside the box, but his long-range effort flew up and over the bar. Elsewhere, Callum Whelan began the match in lively fashion, as he raced forward at the visiting defence before laying a pass off to forward Justin Donawa who fired just over the crossbar.
After 16 minutes, saw the games best opportunity to-date, as Callum Maycock's effort beat the goalkeeper but was cleared off the line by an opposition defender. Within minutes, Kian Ryley also had a brilliant chance to give Solihull the lead, but he dragged his effort wide from 15 yards out. A dangerous free-kick was also sent into the box by Solihull towards the head of Fiarce Kelleher, but it came to nothing.
Telford's first real sighting of goal came after 23 minutes, after a brilliant piece of work from Nathan Blissett on the wing, however his dangerous looking pass was too much for Evans and Moors eventually cleared away any danger. The visitors continued to grow into the game, and came closest to scoring on the half-hour mark when Nathan Blissett's looping effort beat Ryan Boot but hit the crossbar and bounced away to safety.
Solihull picked up the pace just before the break, having two further chances to take the lead. Firstly, Donawa was denied from close range after some sensational defending from Telford. Despite their lack of league form, the visitors did themselves very proud. Josh Kelly also went close just before the break but his shot was saved brilliantly by the goalkeeper.
Half Time - Solihull Moors 0-0 AFC Telford United
The second half followed a very similar trend to the first, with Ethan Vaughan producing some brilliant solo play on the right, but his cross towards Callum Whelan was a fraction too high and it went behind for a goal-kick. Vaughan had a very good game it has to be said, possibly his best for the club so far. However, he was replaced on the hour mark by James Clarke. The subs continued minutes later with both Joe Sbarra and Ryan Barnett coming on to replace Justin Donawa and Kian Ryley.
The substitutions had a dream affect, as Solihull took the lead just four minutes later. Josh Kelly picked up the ball in the Telford half, before slotting a pass through to Joe Sbarra who finished it off brilliantly past the keeper to put the home side in the lead.
Ryan Barnett then decided to get in on the action, as he fired an effort inches wide of the target before grabbing his goal six minutes later. A brilliant team move saw the ball eventually fall to Barney who slotted past the goalkeeper from close range to send the Moors through.
Solihull almost added a third late on, when Josh Kelly repeated his actions of the first goal and found Joe Sbarra with a through-ball, however this time Joey could only find the side-netting with his effort. There was a late injury concern for Solihull when Sbarra was brought down by a strong challenge and was forced to limp off, with Neal Ardley furious on the touch line. Fortunately, this was the final action of the match as Solihull Moors travelled through to Round Four.
Full Time: Solihull Moors 2-0 AFC Telford United
Man Of The Match
There was a handful of impressive performances from Solihull on the night, in particular Ethan Vaughan and Josh Kelly especially. However, our man of the match is debutant Kian Ryley. The youngster looked full of energy and consistently looked to make things happen whenever he received the ball. Despite only featuring for just over an hour, he had a brilliant opportunity to grab his debut goal and has certainly done himself proud and gave Neal Ardley something to think about moving forward.
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