Their 5-1 victory at the superb New Meadow in Shrewsbury saw the team earn a Third Round tie at home against Middlesex on Saturday 6th December.
Birmingham made an encouraging start and were nearly ahead in three minutes. Skipper Dean Rathbone broke from his sweepers role and found Hednesford team mate Tom Law whose cross was narrowly missed by Jake Brown.
A minute later Brown returned the favour to Law but Shropshire keeper Dan Vaughan saved well from Law’s shot.
Shropshire’s first effort came on seven minutes, Clayton Johnson headed over Dave Allen’s goal from a right side corner. Just two minutes later Vaughan again denied Brown who was fed in by Jamie Osborne.
Birmingham finally broke the deadlock after twenty minutes. Todd Corry broke out of defence found Jake Brown down the right. Brown went past two defenders and laid the ball back to Highgate United’s Tom Giddings who made no mistake from 12 yards.
The visitors doubled their lead six minutes later after Rathbone again won an aerial challenge. The ball fell to Osborne who burst through half the length of the pitch and fed in Brown. The home ‘keeper sensed the danger and came charging out, but the Highgate United youngster coolly rounded Vaughan and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Birmingham nearly went three up after 35 minutes; a two man corner involving Osborne and Josh Edwards freed Edwards whose inch perfect cross was headed over by Rathbone from 6 yards.
Shropshire responded almost immediately and got back into the game a minute later. layton Johnson was the home side’s main threat and found his fellow striker Nial Evans who was adjudged to have been fouled by Elliot Fenn; Referee Mather had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Asa Wright placed his spot to the right of Dave Allen. The Coventry Sphinx ‘keeper made a superb one handed save, but Wright reacted quicker than the Birmingham defence and headed the ball over Allen.
The two-goal advantage was restored by Tom Law just ahead of the half time break. A Birmingham corner from Osborne found Brown who fed the ball into the box to Hednesford striker, Tom Law who this time made no mistake.
Despite the words of Manager Martin Sweeney and Coach Martin Harrison, Birmingham lost their sense of urgency at the start of the second half. This gave the home side encouragement and gave the Birmingham defence some work to keep the scoreline intact.
Manager Sweeney introduced Hednesford and Cradley striker Adam Meacham into the action replacing Jake Brown.
Coventry Sphinx keeper Dave Allen showed his class with a tremendous double instinctive save to deny Kirk Jones on the hour. This woke the visitors up and Birmingham began to force the home defence further back.
Tom Giddings and Josh Edwards combined to give Meacham time and space to coolly slot the ball past Vaughan for Birmingham’s fourth in the 70th minute.
Birmingham made two further changes with 16 minutes remaining introducing Chris Ward and Marvin Johnson replacing Tom Law and Jamie Osborne.
With time running out Tom Howard and Johnson found space on the right and crossed into the box for Meacham to double his tally, scoring Birmingham’s fifth and taking his side through to the next round of the prestigious competition.
Team Spokesperson, Steve Poole commented:
“Having had no league action prior to the fixture, the management had no insight into how the new squad would fare against county opposition. Considering this was our first real match the squad did well.
“The respective ages mean that nearly half of the squad is available for two years. We have one of the youngest squads and the lads will grow into county football and hopefully improve on the performance.
“We now have to wait until we face Middlesex in Round three,” added Steve. “There’s a score to settle with Middlesex who inflicted the current managerial regime’s heaviest defeat, beating us 5-0 last season!”
Birmingham take on Middlesex in Round 3 of The FA County Youth Cup on Saturday 6th December at County HQ, Ray Hall Lane, Great Barr. Kick off is at 1.30pm.
SQUAD IN FULL: Dave Allen - Coventry Sphinx, James Braid - Solihull Moors, Jake Brown - Highgate United, Jay Chambers - Tipton Town, Todd Corry - Castle Vale, Danny Dineen - Sutton Coldfield Town, Josh Edwards - Castle Vale, Dale Faultless - Pelsall Villa, Elliot Fenn - Sutton Coldfield Town, Joel Fuller - Sutton Coldfield College, Tom Giddings - Highgate United, Ricky Hill - Bedworth United, Tom Howard - Hednesford Town, Marvin Johnson - Solihull Moors, Tom Law - Hednesford Town, Adam Meacham - Hednesford Town, Jamey Osborne - Hednesford Town, Alex Price - Solihull Moors, Dean Rathbone - Hednesford Town, Chris Ward - Hednesford Town