Shrews progress in friendly tournament

Shrewsbury booked their place in the semi-finals of the South West Challenge Cup with a 1-0 victory over Rushden & Diamonds on Thursday night. Promising young striker Tom Bradshaw grabbed the only goal of the game in the 88th minute in fortuitous circumstances, closing down an attempted clearance before seeing the ball rebound into the net. The result, coupled with Monday`s 5-1 win over Ilfracombe, sees Shrews top Group 3 and they will now face non-league Havant & Waterlooville in the last four on Saturday. The winners will progress to the final where they will play either Premier League Blackpool or League One Leyton Orient on Sunday. After the slender victory, Town manager Graham Turner told the club`s official website: "We knew Rushden were going to be a tough outfit to play against. I thought there were several things that made life difficult for us; we moaned about the rain at Ilfracombe and here we can moan about the sun. "I was also disappointed with a number of issues with our play, there was no disguising that but there were some mitigating circumstances for that. What we need to do now is get on some good surfaces where we can pass the ball around a lot better."

Source: PA