Darlaston gave three debuts after being decimated by injury and suspensions. Kieron Miller, Reece Mason, Tom Turton, Josh Jones, Ben Priest, Will O'Sullivan all unavailable through injury whilst Ben Podmore was serving the last game of his three game bans. In came dual signings Jono Brown, Dom Perkins and Harry Higginson.

The opening exchanges were even, Darlaston with a strong wind at their backs, but both sides acclimatising well to the conditions.

With nearly 300 football league appearances under his belt, former Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers midfielder Kyle Bennett, oozed class whilst the Darlaston midfield trio of Ryan Winwood, Liam Wilkinson, James Rowland were excellent in breaking up play and setting the home strike force of Aaron Bishop, Rivel Mardenborough and Jack Downing into good forward positions. The pace of Downing giving the visitors all sorts of problems down the right flank.

Chances were few and far between until Darlaston took the lead from the penalty spot on 23 minutes. A clearance from keeper Jono Brown eluded the Shifnal defence, Bishop pounced on the bouncing ball only to be clattered to the ground by advancing keeper, Yankuba Colley who received a yellow card for his indiscretion. James Rowland converted the spot kick.

Despite having the wind at their backs, it did not really help the home side, as they found it difficult to find the right passing range over hitting or under hitting some of their passes.

Shifnal's equaliser came on 36 minutes, again from the penalty spot. A free kick from wide on the right was floated into the box, as the ball hung in the air, Mardenborough brought down Reuben Lal. Lewis Jarman converting the resultant penalty.

Shifnal top scorer Joe Cuff impressed whilst James Rowland was equally impressive for the home side with his neat footballing skills and forward play and promptings.

As in the first half the wind did not favour Shifnal who now had the wind at their backs, and it was Darlaston who made the better start to the second half.

They were denied a penalty on 56 minutes when Mardenborough was felled in the box but two minutes they later went in front for the second time again from the penalty spot. A superb, flicked header from Bishop sent Mardenborough clear only to be felled by advancing keeper Colley who saw red, following his second yellow card. The substitute keeper's first job was to pick the ball from the back of the net, Rowland again converting the spot kick.

Despite the setback, an excellent Shifnal side, played some beat attractive football, Bennett continuing to control matters from midfield. Unfortunately for the visitors Darlaston now had their backs up and started to take control, withs several clear chances.

The best goal of the game came on 63 minutes as the home side opened up a two goal cushion. Mrdenborough's attempted cross was only partially cleared into the path of Downing who had been a thorn in the side of Shifnal's defence all evening. His endeavours paying dividends when his right wing cross was met at the far post by Bishop who netted easily from four yards.

Darlaston extended their advantage on 75 minutes when Rowland's inswinging corner was turned home by skipper Alex Foreshaw.

Mardenborough, Downing and Bishop all had chances to extend the lead but in the closing minutes Shifnal had other ideas. At 4-1 down with fifteen minutes remaining and playing with ten men the game looked over, but that was not to be the case. Shifnal are not one of the promotion favourites for no reason and they continued to push forward looking for every opportunity to get back into the game as Darlaston seemed to rest on their laurels.

On 86 minutes Josh Thomas stole in at the back post to tap home to reduce the arrears and two minutes into added time a neat three man move down the right saw Joe Cuff convert a right wing cross from six yards to reduce the gap to a single goal.

Despite Shifnal's valiant attempts, Darlaston held on comfortably for the remaining six minutes of added time to take the three points in a deserved win.

Following the game Darlaston boss Dean Gill reflected - "Except for the last ten minutes when we took our foot off the gas, I thought we were very good tonight. Make no mistake Shifnal are an excellent side, well managed and they will be there or thereabouts come the end of April. They have plenty of quality, experience and know how in their side as they showed tonight. Joe Cuff and Kyle Bennett are class and in Bennett they have a player with plenty of football league experience who on his day is the best midfielder in the league in his position. However tonight, our own power house James Rowland, showed his class in midfield and I thought he was our stand out player.

We were a little light on numbers tonight and I am grateful to my managerial colleagues for allowing us to sign players on dual registration, the three of them doing well tonight. However, the core of my players were also very good, they were all 8 out of 10 tonight. Jake Pearson returned from a two month sabbatical in Australia for a cameo substitute appearance, Poddy returns from suspension and with one or two of our injuries clearing up I am hoping that we will have a more settled squad to select from in the forthcoming weeks."