Non league club forced to play two cup semi finals in the same day

A non league club were forced to play two cup semi finals in the same day over the weekend, and ended up winning them both.

Shifnal Town, who were this week promoted to the Midland League, were made to tackle two big games, a situation that joint boss Danny Carter has described as ‘ridiculous’.

A home clash with Sikh Hunters in the West Midlands League’s Moving Forward Sports Cup was first up at 3pm before a showdown with Allscott Heath in the Shropshire Senior Cup at Market Drayton with a 6pm kick off.

“Playing on Friday night and then Saturday wouldn’t have been ideal, but it would have been better than what we have to contend with now.

“But the West Midlands League haven’t given us any leeway. So we just have to get on with it.

“We have a squad of 24 and will be splitting that up and trying to balance out the sides. Some of the lads from the development team will have to be on the bench and there is a chance that one or two of the lads who play in the first game may also be on the bench for the second one.”

They ended up beating Sikh Hunters 2-0 in the West Midlands League Cup tie at 3pm, Angelo Franco scored with a penalty after Harry Cunningham put the ball in the back of the net for a comfortable win.

@ShifnalTown1st great penalty to make it 2-0 👍 pic.twitter.com/F0pif6UFnT

— Matt Roach (@MattLaPupila) May 22, 2021

Then Shifnal went a goal better by beating Allscott Heath 3-0, Jake Webb breaking the deadlock from a corner before Jay Holdcroft doubled their lead.

Tom Taylor got a header in from a corner to make it 3-0 and put the club in two finals in the same day, some achievement that no other club can say they have managed to do.

Shifnal replied to a fan on how they dealt with this scenario, saying: “Squad of players, some playing in both matches, one set of coaches and managers, one kit man, one media/photographer, one secretary and a handful of helpers working very hard at both games one huge ask of the club that was embraced and challenge met head on…”

Unreal effort today from everyone involved.. here’s a picture of @__Lloydy and Harry Cunningham playing in both Semi-Finals… pic.twitter.com/6AA3YSDmer

— Shifnal Town FC (@ShifnalTown1st) May 22, 2021

Twitter users continued to react after seeing that the non league club had been forced to play two cup semi finals in the same day, then won them both…

@mrcrh11: Sikh hunters, what on earth, bizarest football club name ever ha ha

@daleskitt: Well done Shifnal, they could win a hat trick of trophies over the coming week. A club doing very well at the moment and with a higher grade of football to look forward to next season in the MFL Premier.

@AceSocialist: Did they use the same players? Heck of an effort.

@TylerHerrick_: if you were playing for the second team, you’d be pissed 😭

@Jay0695: Up the fucking boys

@leeinnes25: Congratulations!! Madness situation to find yourselves in. Genuine question; how many from match 1 featured in Match 2?

@MDTFC: Great effort @Shifnal Town1st – feet up today lads before you go again

@DKendallMedia: Massive congrats lads, superb achievement!!

@BroadhurstMM: Fair play guys.. great achievement 👏🏻

@TanomjitBrandon: Congrats and good luck in the final, the better team won 👍🏽. I would be surprised if you didn’t do the treble, it will take a well organised team to beat you lot

@DavidBu67718114: Think @ShifnalTown1st ought to fill us in a bit @jslovechild. Suppose you know this club Jim #nonleaguefootball

@luffman_rich: What a night they’ll be having now

@LeeScourfield: That has surely never happened before?? How did they have time to wash the kit??

@ForeverAYellow: What a cracking effort that is from Shifnal to play out two massive semi finals for the club, some players playing in both, then end up winning them both. I really hope they celebrated long into the night, well deserved. Let’s hope the final is played on different days otherwise that would be incredibly harsh as if the two semis in one day weren’t bad enough, no matter you still put up with it and pulled off wins

@wtshrewisaway: Shifnal Town just went and won two semi finals in the same day! 👏

@shifnalladies: Well done guys you did us proud #OneShifnalTown

@wvsvf: No way, I’ve never seen this happen before, that is pretty extraordinary, fair play for going out and winning them both

Hoy el Shifnal Town FC jugado dos partidos dentro de cinco horas. ¿Los resultados? Dos victorias por dos y tres goles. Un logrado muy impresionante 👍 #grassrootsfootball #futbol pic.twitter.com/c5vESssjhC

— Matt Roach (@MattLaPupila) May 22, 2021