A plum tie against AFC Telford United awaits the winners of tonight’s Shropshire Senior Cup preliminary tie between Bridgnorth Town and visiting Shifnal Town (7.45pm).

The battle between the Midland Alliance duo will decide who faces the Blue Square North side at the New Bucks Head next Monday.

And it’s Shifnal who appear to be taking the historic competition, now in its 131st year, more seriously than their counterparts.

“It will be nice to be playing competitively where the result matters,” said Shifnal boss Darren Goodall.

“The friendlies so far have been about performances – cup games are all about results.

“We did well in the cups last season and hopefully we can do so again. I’m sure it will be a fiery contest, local derbies always are.”

Shifnal have brought in eight new players as they look to build on last season’s disappointing 15th place finish in the Alliance.

But they have a number of players missing, including Gordon Simms who is suspended after picking up a red card at the end of last season.

Bridgnorth, promoted last season as champions of the Sport Italia West Midlands League premier division, see the game as just an extension to their pre-season training.

Boss Julian Marsh said: “Good luck to them if they are taking it seriously, but we’re just getting ready for the serious stuff.

“The result doesn’t mean much to us at the moment – we’re just getting our players ready.

“Obviously it would be nice to play Telford, but it’s no big deal.”

Bridgnorth have had a mixed bag in pre-season so far, beating Ludlow 6-2, drawing 2-2 with Mile Oak and losing 2-1 against Southern League Chasetown on Saturday.

Professionals Shrewsbury Town have won the tournament on 13 of the last 14 occasions.

They face last year’s surprise finalists Market Drayton Town in their semi with the final to be played on Thursday, July 31.

By Sean Wozencroft