County clubs gearing up for exciting end to the season

Following a meeting earlier this week, FA officials are looking to restart the action on April 3 with a series of cups up for grabs at the end of what has been a frustrating campaign.

A new-look Shropshire Senior Cup has been given the go-ahead while clubs in the top flight of the Salop Leisure League will compete for the Shropshire Challenge Cup. And the battle for TJ Vickers Cup glory will resume from the quarter-final stage.

The Shropshire FA’s Tom Farmer Women’s Cup will also continue as will the Saturday Youth Cup, while a decision is pending on the Sunday Youth Cup.

The plans are all subject to further FA guidance, which is due on or around March 22, and government guidelines regarding the roadmap out of lockdown.

The Shropshire Senior Cup will take on a new format with 10 sides – Ellesmere Rangers, Shifnal Town, Whitchurch Alport, Wellington Amateurs, Shawbury United, Allscott AFC, Haughmond, AFC Bridgnorth, Wem Town and St Martins – split into two groups of five, with the top two from each section going through to the semi-finals with final to follow.

The TJ Vickers Cup action started before lockdown and has reached the last eight stage and will now see Ellesmere Rangers host Shifnal Town, Whitchurch welcome Wellington Amateurs, Allscott head to Shawbury and Haughmond travel to AFC Bridgnorth. The dates for these ties have yet to be decided.

The Salop Leisure Premier Division season has been curtailed but those clubs will be invited to compete in a Champions League style format for the Shropshire Challenge Cup. They will be split into groups followed by semi-finals and a final to determine the overall winner.

A number of other clubs that play outside the county will also be invited to take part a cup competition along with the Salop Leisure League Division One sides. The format will be a knockout style competition due to Division One clubs continuing with their scheduled league programme.

“The aim was to provide our member clubs with as much football as we could,” said Shropshire FA secretary Zoe Griffiths. “And we are pleased to be able to offer some football at the end of what has been a pretty traumatic time for clubs.

“We have a new-look Shropshire Senior Cup for one season only and we have been able to provide a competition for the teams in the Salop Leisure Premier Division after their season was curtailed.

“The Tom Farmer Women’s Cup will continue and the Saturday Youth Cup, while we are waiting for a decision from the Shropshire Minor League on what they plan to do before we make a decision on the Sunday Youth Cup.”

There will be no adult Sunday football cup competitions, but there could be some league action.

“We made the decision to not run the Sunday cup competitions because we won’t have the facilities available to complete the fixtures,” added Griffiths.

“But the Shrewsbury Sunday league are looking to complete their season and we are waiting for a decision from the Telford Sunday League.”