Moors End Pre-Season With Victory

Solihull Moors’ pre-season ended in style with a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion U-23s thanks to goals from Jordan Cullinane-Liburd and Luke Benbow.

Playing in front of the watchful eyes of Tom Ross and Chester boss Jon McCarthy, Moors played with the kind of freedom that has been key to winning six of our eight pre-season matches.

The starting XI again saw plenty of changes, Nathan Vaughan returning in goal while Darren Carter, Benbow, Tristan Dunkley and two trialists beginning the game – Fiacre Kelleher of Oxford United and Sebastien Turenne Des Pres. Shepherd Murmobedzi, Liburd, Simeon Maye, Paul Green and George Carline completed the line-up.

The first half was a fairly drab affair up until the opener, West Brom looking tidy in possession but struggling to test Vaughan while Moors were busy harrying their youthful opposition.

It took 18 minutes to open the scoring, Luke Benbow forcing a free-kick on the left-side where Darren Carter delivered. Liburd outmuscled his man at the back post and headed past Palmer to put Moors into the lead.

We dominated the game from thereon. Dunkley found Des Pres who fired over from 20 yards before Murombedzi produced the sublime with a rabona cross that Benbow came close to volleying in under pressure.

After Palmer was forced to deny Carter’s long range effort, Tristan Dunkley won a penalty, tripped over as he maneuverered into the box. Simeon Maye stepped up but his penalty was a nice height for the keeper who made a smart stop. Benbow fired the rebound into the Land Rover car park we think.

A plethora of substitutes were made at half-time, Connal Trueman, Daniel Cleary, Kristian Green, Kalern Thomas, Jack Edwards, Tom Tonks and a new trialist entering the pitch – we will refer to him as trialist 1. We believe his name is either Mel, or Mikael.

We started very brightly, Benbow dragging an effort just wide of the far post before Jack Edwards cleared the stand from distance.

It took just five minutes for Moors to double their lead, Tom Tonks’ long throw paying almost immediate dividends thanks to Luke Benbow whose header at the back post was guided into the top corner. One for the Stourbridge faithful!

Jack Edwards almost made it three when he showed good feet in the area only to be denied while Cleary’s header cleared the bar from another Tonks throw. Tonks was getting on the referee’s nerves as much as the West Bromwich Albion defence, receiving a tirade of ‘shut up’ screams from the man in the middle.

Moors continued to dominate proceedings, Thomas having a shot saved from distance and Trialist 1 showed some nice footwork only for his effort to be deflected wide.

Trueman’s main involvement was to close the gap on WBA’s number 12 before catching a header from the resulting cross. Kristian Green curled an effort narrowly beyond the far post.

West Brom’s anger seemed to be summed up by the ginger number 9 losing his head, kicking Daniel Cleary twice in the ankle – the linesman appeared to give him the benefit of the doubt given it was a pre-season friendly. Meanwhile their number 4 was losing his head badly at several team-mates.

Mellors-Blair joined the fray during the second half and came close with a 20-yard left-footed strike before his driven corner kick found the head of Kelleher, the save rolling across goal where a defender just beat Trialist 1 to clear away from danger.

Another enjoyable game for the home supporters who have witnessed Moors score 19 goals in eight pre-season matches, winning six, drawing 1 and losing 1 – the one being a full-strength Championship Burton Albion.

Three days away from the start of the season and McDonald appears to have everything in place for a decent start. The players are confident, looking healthy and the boss is going to have a selection headache when it comes to choosing his starting XI and bench.

Chester next up on Saturday. Bring it on!


Starting XI: Vaughan (Trueman); Murombedzi (Trialist), Kellerher (T) (Endall), P.Green (Cleary), Liburd (Thomas); Maye (K.Green), Carter (Tonks), Des Pres (T) (Edwards), Carline (Mellors-Blair); Benbow (Trialist), Dunkley (Trialist).