SHAWBURY United might have lost their battle for survival but they’ve certainly won plenty of admirers in the MFL Premier Division this season.

And they also finished a rollercoaster campaign with some silverware after edging out Wem Town on penalties in the final of the Powell Cup – just a day after defeat to Coleshill Town confirmed their relegation.

Shawbury needed to beat promotion-chasing Coleshill in Saturday’s final league clash and hope for other results to go their way to have a chance to staying in the division. Now boss Dave Richards must wait and see in which league his side will be playing.

“We’re in the dark at the moment,” he admitted. “There will be a meeting in the next few weeks to decide our fate. We just hope that we won’t be in the North West Counties League as that would make it very difficult to attract players.

“It will be a case of regrouping and seeing if we can go again. While it’s disappointing to be relegated it’s a case of us trying to find the right level for the club. We’ve endured two tough seasons in the Premier Division.

“It’s a massive step up from the West Midlands League, Haughmond won it by 18 points last season and have gone straight back down.

“But I’m proud of the way the lads have battled through. With the exception of us and Loughborough University, everyone gets paid for playing at this level. And after the season we’ve had with all the issues then we’ve done so well to take it to the final game of the season.

“The fact that, because of politics, we’ve not been able to train as much as we would have liked and the fact that we lost key players like Luke Armstrong and Benjie Robinson at the end of the transfer window.”

Shawbury made the perfect start against Coleshill – who needed to win to wrap up the second promotion place – with James Askey giving them an early lead.

Richards added: “We knew that if we could take that lead into half-time then they might get a little nervy but we’ve switched off just before the break and allowed their right-back in at the back post.

“They’ve only had one chance in the second half but the fact that they’ve taken it is probably why they are going up.”

Not that there was time for Shawbury’s players to lick their wounds with the Wem cup final the following day. And once again the Ludlow-based side showed their battling spirit, having to start the game with just nine players due to traffic problems and with boss Richards and assistant Stu Lewis called into action.

A Jason Wellings penalty took the game to extra time and then penalties with Liam Taylor netting the vital spot kick.

“At least it put a smile on our faces after Saturday,” the manager added.