Salties leave sour taste as Pirates sunk

An experimental Shrewsbury Pirates side fell to a heavy defeat in their latest 4NCL Online division four outing.

The Pirates were sunk by a well drilled Epsom Salties 2 outfit, who took advantage of early errors by Shrewsbury players to ease to a 4-0 win.

Shrewsbury handed competitive debuts to Nick Nuthall and Tom Osenton on boards two and four, with the pair coming in for Olusegun Ilesanmi and Peter Kitchen. Without the top two boards from the win over Worcestershire Wolfpack D last time out, Tony Purser moved up to top board.

Ben Howells was first to finish on board three, losing material after coming under pressure early on on the kingside. Nuthall followed a short time later, losing a pawn to a mouse slip that ultimately cost him the game.

The game was up for Shrewsbury when Osenton lost on bottom board – and although Purser looked solid for a while on top board, a tactical error saw him lose his queen and with it the game.

Although a disappointing night, it has given some valuable experience to some of our newer players – which is exactly what our online campaign is aimed at this season.

The Pirates will next hoist the rigging on October 21st – which will remarkably be the halfway point in their debut campaign.