Stratford Town Youth return to summit following six-goal thriller
STRATFORD Town Youth continue to lead the way in the MFYL Premier Division South after sharing the points in a six-goal thriller at the DCS on Thursday evening, writes Bryan Hale.
Earlier in the week, they had been overtaken by Rugby Town Juniors, who had walloped Coton Green 5-0 to go above Town by the minimum possible margin of having scored one more goal, but Town regained top spot with a brace from the division’s leading marksman Dylan Parker and a second goal in two games from Harry Hartin.
Worcester were soon into their stride in the early stages with Town keeper Scott Martin having to pull off a couple of smart saves, but with central defenders Jamie Ford and Sam Sayer in commanding form, Worcester couldn’t make their pressure count and instead it was Town who took the lead in the 26th minute.
A corner from the right caused mayhem in the six-yard box and Parker reacted the quickest to stab the ball over the line from close range.
From then on Town looked more comfortable with Parker twice going close to extending the lead but at the break they were still just one ahead.
Worcester noticeably upped their tempo after the restart and equalised six minutes into the second half when Aaron Brett let fly with a thunderous strike from 25 yards out which flew into the top corner, giving Martin no chance.
And as they continued to have the better of the possession, Martin tipped over another decent effort from Brett before Hassan Shah cut in from the left on 71 minutes to fire Worcester ahead.
But showing tremendous spirit, Town levelled six minutes later with a sharp turn and crisp finish from Parker for his 14th goal of the season.
Soon after, a Jordan White free-kick came back off the bar and in the 80th minute Town were back in front when Harry Hartin worked his way in from the left. His first shot hit the post but he recovered instantly to blast home the rebound.
But Worcester refused to lie down and with four minutes left Josh Willis took advantage of a mix-up in the Town defence to give his side a deserved point.
