Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Fulham U21s

Fulham Under-21s picked up three points in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy opener, defeating Shrewsbury Town 2-1 at the Croud Meadow.

Lemar Gordon’s late winner saw us complete a superb comeback after Callum Osmand cancelled out Toto Nsiala’s opener. 

Our Young Whites started confidently, with a brilliant diagonal pass from Delano McCoy-Splatt setting Oliver Gofford free down the right. His cross found Aaron Loupalo-Bi at the back post, but his shot was deflected behind.

Alex Borto was forced to make his first save of the match after 30 minutes, springing down to his right side to tip wide George Lloyd’s goalbound header.

There was time for another Shrewsbury chance before the break as Charles Sagoe JR ran through the middle of the pitch in stoppage-time and fired a 25-yarder over the bar.

The tricky Tommi O’Reilly saw a shot deflect just past the post after the interval, before he chipped a ball in towards Toto Nsiala from the resulting corner, but the defender couldn’t keep his shot down.

But Nsiala made no mistake as he gave Shrewsbury the lead on 51 minutes, getting the last touch on a goalmouth scramble.

We had a chance to get back into the game when Josh King was brought down by Mal Benning in the box. Callum Osmand stepped up to take the penalty, but he was kept out by a spectacular save from Toby Savin.

But Osmand was not to be kept down. Just a few minutes later, he picked the ball up outside the box, took aim and saw his shot loop over Savin via a deflection.

Kristian Šekularac then dragged an effort narrowly wide after Josh had set him up with some neat dribbling.

O’Reilly could have won it for Shrewsbury as clock struck 80 minutes but saw his low, driven shot fly just wide of the post.

But Gordon was the hero with two minutes remaining, poking the ball past Savin after being played in by King, sparking jubilant celebrations among the lads.

Image Credit: James Baylis / AMA Sports Photo Agency.