Well… I think any fears that “Floreat Salopia” could be a short story have quickly been laid to rest. In the first few months of my stewardship, Shrewsbury Town have picked up right where they left off under Paul Hurst. While there won’t be a repeat of last season’s incredible unbeaten start, there is plenty of cause for optimism here at New Meadow.
Now it’s time to see if we can carry our excellent early-season form over into the autumn. Are we really set for a truly incredible season, or have I just had some good ol’ beginner’s luck, Football Manager style?
WALSALL vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 11)
How fitting that we should begin this chapter with my first local derby. I used to go past the Bescot Stadium on my way to visit my sister in Telford, but I was now stopping there to take on mid-table Walsall.
Things started so well for us, with Arthur Gnahoua getting off the mark after 10 minutes. Mind you, the left-winger needed two attempts to convert a deep cross from right-back James Bolton, having struck the post with the first. Our second goal a couple of minutes later also had a scrappy feel to it, as Ryan Haynes‘ attempted cross to the in-form Lee Angol went in off Walsall defender Jack Fitzwater’s shoulder.
Fitzwater redeemed himself by helping the Saddlers get back on the saddle midway through the half. The on-loan West Brom youngster cut Kieron Morris’ corner delivery back to striker Morgan Ferrier, who managed to drive it through a crowded Shrews area.
The second half was all Walsall, as they had countless opportunities to draw level. They would be left frustrated until the 87th minute, when Andy Cook lashed in a vicious shot from the side of our penalty area. That was a truly great goal from the late-blooming striker who was now on eight for the season, and it bumped us out of the automatic promotion places.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs ACCRINGTON STANLEY (League One, Match 12)
Despite being newcomers to League One, Accrington had given a good account of themselves thus far. Stanley certainly weren’t afraid to attack us at New Meadow, even if their finishing lacked quality. They also impressed at the back, with left-back Nick Anderton’s last-ditch intervention keeping Angol off the scoresheet when he just had goalkeeper Connor Ripley to beat in the 55th minute.
Goodness knows how many tactical tweaks I made in my efforts to break through. Typically, it was a corner routine that proved Accrington’s undoing seven minutes from the time. Josh Emmanuel curled a set-piece to the far post, where Omar Beckles – a former Accy defender, no less – popped up to head in what appeared to be the winner.
Then it was ‘déjà vu’ all over again, as an ex-Shrews player stole a point for Accrington in a similar fashion to how Cook had done for Walsall. Right-winger Jordan Clark tried a curling shot from out wide in our box, and the ball swerved past Joel Coleman to turn another apparent Shrewsbury win into a draw.
SUNDERLAND vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (EFL Trophy, North Group B – Match 2)
When a Shrewsbury team consisting mostly of backups played a strong Sunderland side away from home, the outcome looked obvious. Sure enough, the Mackems stormed ahead after just two minutes. Alex Gilliead could only clear Grady Diangana’s free-kick as far as Duncan Watmore, whose volley from the edge of our box thrilled the home fans – all 4,000 of them, anyway.
However, Gilliead went from zero to hero in the 30th minute, with the winger driving a tame long-range shot past home goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter to level. The assist came from centre-back Zak Jules, who would find the net himself two minutes from half-time. A powerful finish from Shaun Whalley‘s corner opened Zak’s Shrews account and sent us 2-1 ahead. Now the Stadium of Light really did sound empty.
Sunderland used almost every trick in the book in their bid to draw level in the second half, but we stayed resolute. A second straight group win secured our spot in Round 2 of the Pointless Trophy, with one pool match still to play against Macclesfield, who were already eliminated. Woohoo.
FLEETWOOD TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 13)
Fleetwood played some adventurous football under new manager Joey Barton, which had thus far taken them up to 5th. Attackers Ched Evans and Ashley Hunter were all over our defence in the first half, but they were kept off the scoresheet by some poor finishing (and some fine keeping from Coleman). With the half-time scoreline at 0-0, though, I was hopeful we could hit our tiring opponents with a sucker punch.
Then the Cod Army slapped our faces with a wet fish seven minutes after the break. Evans beat Beckles to a right-wing cross from wing-back Lewie Coyle and headed home the opener. The much-maligned Welsh striker got the better of our usually solid centre-half again three minutes later. That time, he ran onto a through-ball from Hunter and knocked it past Coleman with ease.
A fast-paced move in the 73rd minute appeared to get us back into the game. Emmanuel crossed deep towards the back post, where Gnahoua prevailed over a sluggish Coyle to stab in what would be the first goal of a comeback. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, as Fleetwood keeper Alex Cairns saved a potential equalising free-kick from Doug Loft late on.
This had been an entertaining match, but Fleetwood’s clear superiority and Barton’s tactical mastery left me feeling philosophical in defeat. To quote Friedrich Nietzsche, “Soccer AM and all this Dench s***e getting right on my tangerz this morning.”
My battle with Barton was squeezed between a couple of meetings with Sunderland. Having already beaten Jack Ross’ side on their own patch in the Pointless Trophy, we now hoped to take three more valuable league points off them at New Meadow. If we could, it would continue a shocking decline for the Mackems, who were down in 19th and already battling to avoid a third consecutive relegation.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs SUNDERLAND (League One, Match 14)
Considering that we were playing the Black Cats, it seemed apt that an unlucky own goal just before the 13th minute sent us behind. Emmanuel was trying to block Chris Maguire’s cross into the box before it could reach frontman Charlie Wyke, but our right-back could only chest it past a stunned Coleman.
Fortunately, all was well for us again by the 15th minute. Two of our old stallions came good when Whalley’s deep free-kick was finished from a tight angle by midfielder Anthony Grant, who claimed his first Shrewsbury goal. Not for the first time during his short tenure, Ross was rueing some shoddy defending from his men.
Amadi-Holloway had struggled up front in the first half, so I gave him a friend for the second. Sure enough, Angol took this opportunity to end his recent goal drought. A powerful header from Charlie Colkett‘s curling free-kick midway through the period finally moved Angol onto 10 goals for the season.
A late surge from Sunderland – including some near-misses from that world-renowned goalscorer Lee Cattermole – was not enough to turn the game around. For the second time in less than a fortnight, we’d come from 1-0 down to beat the Mackems 2-1, and Ross was pushed closer to the sack.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BARNSLEY (League One, Match 15)
Barnsley had begun the season with 10 straight wins in all competitions, which had helped to put them firmly on course for automatic promotion alongside Burton. Though the Yorkshire side’s recent form had not been quite so hot, they still got off to a blistering start. Aussie midfielder Kenneth Dougall headed in a cross from German wing wizard Mike-Steven Bähre to put the visitors 1-0 up after just seven minutes.
6ft 5in target man Kieffer Moore soon wanted in on the action. In the 15th minute, he knocked Bähre’s left-wing delivery down to his strike partner Cauley Woodrow to finish with ease. Moore then got his name on the scoresheet eight minutes, nodding in Brad Potts’ cross from the right flank. That left us trailing 3-0 at half-time, desperately hoping that the Tykes would calm down after the break.
They did not. On the hour mark, Bähre followed an exchange of passes with left-back Ethan Pinnock by swerving in Barnsley’s FOURTH goal. A first home defeat of the season was almost a formality…
…unless Lee could turn into #Angoal again. When he smashed in one goal from Ryan Haynes’ long ball, it appeared to be little more than a consolation. Then he got another shortly afterwards, beating the onrushing Barnsley keeper Adam Davies to Mat Sadler‘s hopeful punt before slipping it into an empty net! Now it was 4-2, and there was perhaps still a chance.
I shouldn’t have got my hopes up. During the closing stages, Davies kept out a potential hat-trick goal from Angol as well as a long-ranger from substitute Lenell John-Lewis. There would be no late miracle for the Shrews, and Barnsley’s latest win took them eight points clear of us in 2nd.
OXFORD UNITED vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 16)
A tricky run of October fixtures ended with another daunting test, this time against in-form Oxford. As Beckles was out of form, I gave Luke Waterfall just his second Shrews start in central defence. He repaid me by hauling down U’s striker Sam Smith in the penalty area after just six minutes, and it looked like the writing was on the wall when Jamie Hanson converted his spot-kick.
This was also Danny Coyne‘s second league start for us, and he looked far from geriatric when saving from Smith and midfielder Shandon Baptiste in the opening 20 minutes. Shortly afterwards, though, he watched a Ricky Holmes free-kick swerve sweetly into his top-left corner after another foul on Smith from Waterfall. Way to go, Luke.
Oxford appeared to be in control, but in the 32nd minute, a scrappy Shrewsbury goal – eventually knocked across the goal line by Grant – turned the tide. We started to look the better team in the second half, and Anthony’s equalising second goal in the 61st minute was much more spectacular than his first. Oxford defender Rob Dickie’s headed interception of a Haynes cross only found Grant, who took it on the half-volley and emphatically beat Jonathan Mitchell.
However, a stroke of cruel luck for Haynes in the 72nd minute would hand Oxford a 3-2 victory. Our left-back produced an excellent tackle on Smith to intercept a deep cross from counterpart Josh Ruffels, but he could only slide the ball into his own goal. Ryan was disconsolate at full-time, and he was not the only one.
Three defeats in four games had seen us slip to 4th, falling behind Southend. Those runaway trains bearing the names Burton and Barnsley were now 11 and 9 points clear of us respectively. Meanwhile, those teams ranked 5th to 8th – including Oxford – were making up ground and looking primed to overtake us if we tripped up again.
Following such a strong start, reality was at last starting to bite.
AFC WIMBLEDON vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 17)
We started November with a visit to rainy south London, where mid-table Wimbledon awaited us. We took the lead after just 11 minutes, with Angol’s 13th goal of the season coming in fortunate circumstances. Gnahoua’s flick-on in the Dons area looped over defender Will Nightingale’s head and fell invitingly for Angol, who just couldn’t miss.
Though on-loan Aston Villa youngster Rushian Hepburn-Murphy pulled Wimbledon level on the stroke of half-time, Lee restored our lead early in the second period. He struck Alex Gilliead’s pass into the ‘D’ with so much power that I thought it was going to knock home keeper Tom King’s head clean off on its way into the net!
By the hour mark, though, I was wanting to rip my captain’s head from his neck. As the hosts launched a counter-attack, Sadler’s decision to press the dribbling Hepburn-Murphy left Wimbledon’s other striker unmarked. There was never any doubt afterwards that Joe Pigott would take full advantage of Hepburn-Murphy’s cross and snatch a point.
That disappointing result had been an exception to the rule of my early Shrews reign. Having won more than half of my first 20 games in charge, I’d quickly restored some positivity to Salop after last season’s dose of double disappointment at Wembley.
Our next match saw us enter the FA Cup in Round 1. We’d only need to get past that round – and another five – to book a return to west London and have another chance to end our Wembley hoodoo. A man can dream, can’t he?
We’d been given a relatively kind draw away to Dover – a lower-mid-table National League side. Mind you, this match had been picked for live television coverage, so maybe the producers at BT Sport were expecting a shock.
DOVER ATHLETIC vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (FA Cup, Round 1)
After eight minutes, those TV executives were thinking they’d hit the jackpot. The returning Beckles gave away a costly foul on Dover striker Inih Effiong, whose midfield team-mate Mitch Brundle scored directly from the free-kick. The Whites had further chances after the break, but they were satisfied to go into the break at 1-0 up. Was the shock on?
A potential turning point came in the 49th minute, when centre-half Bradley Barry’s late challenge on Abobaker Eisa saw Dover reduced to 10 men. Eisa was fouled again 15 minutes later – this time by right-back Connor Langan on the edge of the box – and we were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Angol, who’d been rushed on after an hour as our predicament got desperate, but his weak penalty was easily stopped by Mitch Walker.
We tried virtually everything to avert an early cup exit, but it took a mis-step from Walker four minutes from time to bail us out. Gilliead latched onto Loft’s long ball into the area and skipped past Walker, who’d charged out of his net. A simple finish followed, and we were still (just about) alive.
A replay at New Meadow would take place a week-and-a-half later. Whoever won that would travel to Wimbledon in Round 2.
As for our next match, I’ll leave David Mitchell to introduce that. “On Tuesday LIVE, the battle for the north-west [ahem] as Shrewsbury meet Macclesfield in a match that’s already being described as ON THIS TUESDAY.”
Dave, it’s a dead rubber in the Pointless Trophy. There’s no need to go overboard.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs MACCLESFIELD TOWN (EFL Trophy, North Group B – Match 3)
While we were already through to Round 2, Macclesfield were resorting to damage limitation after two defeats spelled an early exit. John Askey lined up his team in an ultra-defensive strikerless formation, though that didn’t stop them taking a 1-0 lead against the run of play before the half-hour. Their most advanced player – attacking midfielder Ben Stephens – fired a fierce shot in from distance, adding to my frustration after Gnahoua had had a goal disallowed for offside.
A 19-year-old hometown boy would save the day for us midway through the second half. Ryan Barnett‘s first senior goal was an impressive one, as he chested Macc left-back David Fitzpatrick’s headed clearance and stroked it home from just inside the box.
Even so, an unnecessary penalty shoot-out was looming… until Lenell John-Lewis opened up shop in the closing moments. After heading a last-minute Gnahoua cross against the bar, John-Lewis bundled in the rebound to break his season duck and put us 2-1 up. He then secured our third straight Pointless Trophy win with a lofted through-ball that Fejiri Okenabirhie calmly tucked away.
Having topped our group with maximum points, we now awaited the Round 2 draw. When it took place about a week later, we were paired at home with Doncaster, who had only just made it out of their pool.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs ROCHDALE (League One, Match 18)
We attacked relegation-threatened Rochdale from the outset, with Colkett hitting their crossbar in the very first minute. After several unsuccessful attempts, we eventually made the breakthrough midway through the half. Our wide attackers Gnahoua and Gilliead exchanged crosses before Arthur drove in the opener from an angle.
Greg Docherty had a couple of chances to double our advantage just before half-time. Unfortunately, the loanee midfielder’s wait for his first Shrews goal was prolonged first by Rochdale keeper Josh Lillis, and later by the bar. Lillis also stopped a couple of late attempts from Gnahoua.
More opportunities came and went for us after the break. Dale managed to launch a few attacks of their own, but we stayed in control and remained on course for a first clean sheet in 13 attempts.
Then, in the third and final minute of stoppage time, we were undone by Matty Done. Emmanuel didn’t pick up the visitors’ substitute winger before he got his head to a right-wing cross from full-back Connor Randall. The ball bounced past Coleman, and the two points we squandered saw us fall behind Portsmouth into 5th place.
You might have noticed that Bolton had missed the Rochdale draw, having damaged his heel against Macclesfield. He wouldn’t be fit enough to feature in our FA Cup replay against Dover either, so it was vital that Emmanuel remained available. You can probably work out where I’m going with this.
Yep… Josh strained his groin two days before the cup game. That left us without any recognised senior right-backs, or even anyone who could fill that role competently. 16-year-old centre-half Ryan Millington – who’d played just 13 minutes of first-team football – would thus make his full debut at right-back in a match we could ill afford to lose.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs DOVER ATHLETIC (FA Cup, Round 1 Replay)
I fielded a team mostly consisting of fringe players wanting to prove themselves. Gnahoua kept his place after scoring against Rochdale, and he found the net again inside four minutes, as Dover failed to effectively clear Whalley’s corner. Six minutes later, Okenabirhie put us 2-0 up by scoring from Grant’s through-ball, although he needed a couple of attempts to beat Mitch Walker in the visiting goal.
That arguably should have been the tie wrapped up already. However, when Waterfall failed to intercept a 31st-minute free-kick from Dover winger Marcus Harness, he allowed on-loan Reading teenager Tyler Frost to pull a goal back. After Luke’s lapse of concentration, we were lucky not to lose our lead completely, with Coleman having to keep out late strikes from Mitch Brundle and Ntumba Massanka.
I made my anger clear to the players at half-time, during which I subbed Waterfall off for Sadler. Gnahoua cooked up the perfect response, scoring a low 20-yard beauty in the first minute of the second period. That goal was set up by Barnett, who continued his steady development with another fine performance.
We could well have added to our 3-1 lead, registering 13 shots on target by full-time. In the end, though, we’d still done enough to earn us a Round 2 tie at Wimbledon. Win that, and we would be back amongst the big boys in Round 3.
WHERE’S OUR DEFENCE GONE?
Reading through this chapter, you’ll probably have noticed a common theme with our results. We did not keep a single clean sheet; in fact, we’d conceded at least one goal in 14 consecutive matches since our last shut-out at home to Southend in early September.
Of course, there’s no real reason to panic just yet. We’re comfortably exceeding expectations in League One, we’re still going strong in two cup competitions, and Angol is topping the EFL’s goal charts with 14. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m entirely satisfied with things.
From what I’ve seen of this team so far, I think our struggles are at least partly tactical. We have a relatively deep defensive line, which seems to be giving opposition attackers too much space, and thus inviting pressure on ourselves.
I’ve also noticed that we seem to be far too wasteful with our passing. I would rather we didn’t give the ball away quite so cheaply so regularly, especially not at home, where it’s become clear that a direct game doesn’t really suit us. With that in mind, I’ll be making some significant changes to my main 4-1-4-1/4-5-1 tactic, which you will see in the next chapter.
I’ve also had a look at our senior defenders’ attributes to get more of a sense of where our weak spots might be. In League One, I’d like to have players with key attributes of 12+ and important attributes of 10+. You might have your own benchmarks, but that’s what I like to go with.
When it comes to defensive attributes, we’re looking pretty solid. Our centre-backs are generally strong in the air and effective man-markers, though Sadler is the only one to score 13 or more on Tackling. In that respect, it’s probably a good idea they’re staying on their feet instead of ‘getting stuck in’.
Being a left-back, I’m not too worried that Haynes scores no more than 10 in Heading, Jumping or Marking. His Positioning is a bit of a concern. That’s also the case with his positional rival Galloway, though he has made significant improvements to that aspect of his game since arriving on loan from Everton.
Taking a closer look at those defenders’ mental attributes sheds a bit more light. With the exception of Sadler, they are very mediocre when it comes to Composure and Concentration. That probably explains why keeping our focus has been a bit of an issue.
Then you see that Waterfall has a Composure rating of 6. That’s SIX, for goodness sake! It seems Luke would immediately cave in whenever anybody asked him who stole the cookie from the cookie jar!
Though Waterfall performed well enough for Lincoln in the lower leagues, his mistakes against Oxford and Dover show that he doesn’t have the resolve to hack it in League One. I just can’t trust him anymore, and the only way he’s getting back into the team is if we have a sudden injury crisis. Otherwise, he’ll probably be sold or loaned out in January, when I’ll look to bring in someone who’s much stronger mentally.
Galloway also appears to be a weak link, despite his encouraging performances in training. Unless Brendan takes that form onto the pitch over the next few weeks, he too might be looking for another club to play for in the new year.
I will return early next week for the next chapter of my Shrewsbury adventure, in which we will get through the final weeks of 2018. Here’s hoping we have a few more Angoals to celebrate… and maybe even some clean sheets, eh, Joel?
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