Bradley Stoke Town came into this 3rd round GFA Minor cup fixture expecting a tough game against a team who won promotion from division 6 last season (beating Town twice) and leading division 5 this season.

From the kick off, Bradley Stoke took a few nervy moments to settle into the game, but once they realised that there was a game to be won, they started to take charge of the game. With only around 5 minutes on the clock, the first goal went in for the away side - A cross from Joe Williams that Andy Forshaw latched onto to knock home.

The home side continued to struggle to get into the game and more chances fell to Bradley Stoke. A second was only minutes away and it came courtesy of a second from Andy Forshaw. Collis-Pritchard sending the ball back into the penalty box following a clearance, that was chested down by Osborne into the path of Forshaw who wasn’t going to miss.

For the remaining 20 minutes or so of the first half, Bradley Stoke took their foot off the gas and allowed Shaftesbury to exert themselves on the game. A one-on-one with Palmer in goal following a blatant offside ignored by the referee ended up in a shot which rebounded to safety off the crossbar. Another shot from the edge of the box came through a crowd of players as was heading for the bottom corner, but a last ditch attempt by Palmer was enough to turn the ball wide for a corner. Thankfully, Town weathered the storm and went in 2-0 up at the half.

Despite a forced substitution (Collis-Pritchard going off with an injury), the second half was even better than the first. Forshaw completed his hat-trick on his way to winning his second man-of-the-match of the season. Even a couple of juggling of players into different positions didn’t disrupt Bradley Stoke as them thrashed Shaftesbury. Ben Osborne and Ashley Lloyd completed the scoring as Bradley Stoke Town marched on into the quarter finals!

Match report courtesy of James Palmer.