Yet another county cup gets underway, and I am in rural Shropshire for the Shropshire FA Junior Cup meeting between Oswestry Boys Club and Bishop's Castle Town.
The ground is situated nearer to Whittington than Oswestry, with the home of Welsh Premier League giants TNS very close by. On a lovely afternoon weatherwise it is a very pleasant rural setting.
The impressive set up includes a further four full sized pitches to cater for the clubs array of junior teams.
The building overlooking the pitch houses changing rooms as well as a clubroom and tea bar, with training lights also in place.
The hosts have established themselves in the Shropshire Alliance since moving into open age football, whilst the visitors are in their first season in Division One of the Shropshire County Premier League after moving from the Montgomeryshire League, having given up on moving up the Welsh pyramid after being denied promotion for a second time purely because they are based on the English side of the border.
On paper Bishop's Castle are one level higher up the pyramid, but it is soon apparent that there will be little to choose between the teams.
Oswestry Boys Club open the scoring just a minute before the interval, George Turner winning a corner and then taking full advantage when the ball fell to him, his shot dipping in despite visiting keeper Wayne Griffiths getting a hand to it.
Bishop's Castle push on in search of an equaliser in the second half, although they almost fall further behind when a Matthew Jones shot comes back off the post. The closest the visitors come is when a Dan Dawson shot is turned over by keeper Craig Worthington, and Oswestry Boys Club hold out for a hard fought 1-0 victory.
