Welcome back, dear readers. It’s been over a week since I last posted an update, leaving my “Floreat Salopia” story on a cliffhanger.
After a moment of madness saw me quit out on an impending defeat against Oxford, I asked you whether I should continue managing Shrewsbury. Seven of you voted on my Twitter poll, and the result was unanimous: the show will go on!
You might remember that I made a promise in the previous chapter. I’m a man of my word, so before we can progress any further, I must replay the Oxford game until they win again, even if it massively dents my team’s promotion challenge. So that’s where we will pick up the story…
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs OXFORD UNITED (League One, Match 29)
After a relatively even start to proceedings, Oxford edged in front in the 26th minute. Gavin Whyte’s right-wing cross into our box found Gavin Massey, whose shot was blocked by Shrews defender Kyle Howkins. The ball was then deflected to Spanish attacking midfielder Jorge Félix, who sought out Levi Lumeka before seeing the on-loan Crystal Palace winger thunder a shot into the top corner.
Another Spaniard was involved in the next goal, which came just three minutes into the second half. Our right-winger Rafa Mir was hauled down in the United box by right-back Ki-Jana Hoever as he tried to connect with Charlie Colkett‘s free-kick. The referee awarded us a penalty, which Sullay Kaikai confidently despatched past keeper Simon Eastwood.
Oxford went back ahead on 63 minutes, as Ryan Haynes‘ holding foul on Whyte was punished to devastating effect. Lumeka sent the resultant free-kick over to the far post, where centre-back Curtis Nelson provided a clinical finish. Another free-kick put us even deeper in the mire 11 minutes later, with midfielder Cameron Brannagan netting from Lumeka’s delivery after the latter had been felled by Colkett.
We were only 3-1 down for a couple of minutes before Kaikai gave us fresh hope. Sullay’s lethal header from Mir’s cross brought up his 10th goal of the season and reduced the arrears to 3-2. However, we couldn’t quite force through an equaliser, despite Oxford suffering a couple of significant setbacks late on.
Substitute forward Rob Hall was only on the pitch for a few minutes when, with five left to play, he strained his groin in a robust challenge from Colkett. Hall’s game thus ended early, and so did Massey’s in stoppage time when he received a second yellow card for pushing Lifumpa Mwandwe. However, Oxford held on to condemn us to a third straight league defeat, which left us seven points adrift of the top two.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 30)
10 days later, we launched the perfect response by battling past Sheffield Wednesday in an eight-goal Hillsborough thriller. It was the mid-table Owls who drew first blood in the 11th minute, with ex-Crystal Palace and Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle pouncing on an excellent right-wing delivery by Sam Winnall.
Two minutes after that early setback, we got ourselves level in rather fortunate circumstances. Captain Richie Smallwood tried to find Alex Gilliead with his cross from the left, but his effort was inadvertently diverted into the net by Wednesday midfielder Paddy McNair.
Our quick turnaround continued in the 19th minute, with a typical counter-attack resulting in Jack Clarke finishing a Gilliead cross from point-blank range. However, that was followed less than a minute later with another swift equaliser – at the other end this time. Though Gayle’s initial attempt from Owls right-back Cuco Martina’s cross was blocked by Freddie Woodman, the rebound comfortably beat our keeper.
2-2 was how the scoreline stayed at half-time, though Sheffield Wednesday felt they should have been 3-2 up. An excellent 45th-minute strike from McNair was controversially ruled out when his midfield colleague Connor Kirby was flagged offside.
Wednesday’s woes continued in the second half, when our midfield mezzala Jack North put the South Yorkshire side to the sword. Two minutes after the restart, Smallwood threaded the ball through space to North, whose first-time hit comfortably beat keeper Joe Wildsmith. The 17-year-old then clinched his brace in the 54th minute, driving namesake Clarke’s pass into the net from the edge of the ‘D’.
Our two-goal hero then turned provider for Lee Angol, who put us into a commanding 5-2 lead midway through the half. After Wildsmith got his gloves to Lee’s first attempt, our quick-thinking frontman slid in the rebound to send our travelling fans wild. Though the Owls pulled one goal back in the 90th minute through Winnall, we would still ‘win all’ three points. I’m here all week, folks.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs DOVER ATHLETIC (League One, Match 31)
Well… there’s no much to say here other than “we blew it”. League One reality was biting Dover hard after such a positive start to the season, and we really should have pushed them closer towards relegation. Alas, we didn’t take our chances when they came.
The first indication that all was not well came after 13 minutes. Kaikai confidently cut his way past a couple of Dover defenders before getting a shot on target, only for keeper Mitch Walker to somehow divert it against his left-hand post. Mir and Clarke were also denied by Walker before half-time. Meanwhile, Woodman was needed at the other end to deny a certain Robbie Muirhead his first goal since circa 2007.
We finally made the breakthrough in the 72nd minute, as Dover defender Jan Simunek – who gifted us the last of three goals in the reverse fixture – helped us out again. The Czech’s weak interception of a cross from Mark Little found its way to Mir, who carved a left-footer past Walker. Victory secured?
No chance. Though Sam Hoskins blazed over a great equalising opportunity when clean through in the 87th minute, his strike partner had better luck deep into stoppage time. Shrews centre-half Joe Wright failed to intercept a cross from the Whites’ right-back Jason McCarthy, which allowed substitute Brandon Barnes to fire in a late leveller. So yeah… we blew it.
Victory would’ve taken us to 3rd place, but we actually slipped behind Portsmouth to 5th after throwing two points away. That left us seven points behind Coventry as we came to the end of January.
DEADLINE DAY
The winter transfer window closed with me making one more signing. Joining our new centre-half Sean McLoughlin at Shrewsbury was a loanee who would provide some additional midfield cover.
Championship aficionados will know quite a bit about Tom Adeyemi. He’s a strong-tackling 29-year-old box-to-box midfielder with plenty of experience in the second tier. Sadly, he’s been somewhat neglected by QPR, and he’s dropped down a division to get some gametime with us.
You might have noticed that Adeyemi a natural defensive midfielder, though I don’t plan to use him there all that often. Tom has a couple of player traits that would hamper his ability to hold his position, so he’ll only play the DM role if both Richie and Bryn Morris are unavailable.
Also on deadline day, there was a fierce battle to sign our promising youth striker Nathan Beard. Stoke and Middlesbrough were amongst the interested clubs, but West Brom were first to make what I saw as an attractive offer. We eventually agreed a deal in principle to sell Beard for £1million, plus a potential £500,000 in add-ons and 50% of the profit from any future sale.
Derby then came in and offered £2.5million up front, plus that same 50% sell-on fee. I also accepted that offer, but Nathan quickly made his mind up. He wanted to go to West Brom.
I now had a decision to make. Should I confirm the deal and take the money? Or should I call it off and gamble on waiting for a much better offer?
I played the Noel Edmonds role and posed this “Deal or No Deal?” question to my Twitter followers. I got a couple of responses, both of which were, “No deal.“ To be honest, I was leaning towards that myself, so the transfer was off.
West Brom were understandably annoyed by this and refused to make a better offer. Derby did make another move, but their next offer was pitifully low compared to the £2.5million they had been willing to fork out just moments later.
The 11:00pm deadline came and went with no further bids. Nathan Beard was staying at Shrewsbury, and we had kept hold of one of our finest talents. He will now turn professional at New Meadow when he celebrates his 17th birthday in March.
A couple of first-teamers did leave Shrewsbury late in the transfer window. First out was one of my few remaining originals – midfield utility man Josh Laurent. After being deemed surplus to requirements, he was sold for £37,500 to an ambitious Billericay side chasing promotion from the National League.
Centre-back Conor Masterson was also on his way out. Although the young Irishman put in some impressive shifts during his six-month loan from Liverpool, I decided not to extend it until the end of the season. As we only had the league to concentrate on over the coming months, there was no need for us to have FIVE central defenders.
Despite leaving Shrewsbury, Masterson did play at New Meadow in the first weekend on February. Only this time, he was wearing a Burton jersey – the mid-table Brewers having agreed their own loan deal for him on deadline day. Conor’s debut for his new club just so happened to be at the home of his former team!
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BURTON ALBION (League One, Match 32)
Erm, yeah… sorry about that, Conor. This was a painful experience for our erstwhile centre-back, and also for his new Burton team-mate Blair Alston. The Scottish attacking midfielder – who arrived on loan from Charlton earlier in the transfer window – twisted his ankle just two minutes in, forcing him out very early. His replacement and compatriot Marc McNulty would have a rather more enjoyable afternoon.
The star of this show, though, was wearing blue and amber. Angol got above both Kyle McFadzean and Gedion Zelalem to head in a typically deadly corner from Smallwood and put us ahead after 13 minutes. That goal would still be the separator at half-time, but part of me sensed that a Burton fightback was coming.
Sure enough, Albion went on the offensive in the second half. Woodman made a couple of big saves before Josh Maja hit his woodwork in the 59th minute, but we could only hold out for another seven minutes. When striker Devante Cole intercepted a rare poor corner from Smallwood, the visitors countered to devastating effect, with McNulty delivering the finishing touch from Gevaro Nepomuceno’s through-ball.
Then came a vital slip from Masterson in the 70th minute. Conor stretched out a leg to try and stop Tyler Denton‘s long ball from finding Angol, but he mistimed it and allowed Lee to surge clear for his second, decisive goal.
Despite their best efforts late on, the Brewers could not deny us our first home win of the new year. The 2-1 final score could’ve read 3-1, but Howkins had an injury-time goal disallowed after he headed home from a Gilliead volley that had rebounded off the bar.
YEOVIL TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 33)
We made a fantastic start against Yeovil, silencing the home fans at Huish Park after barely 30 seconds. Colkett picked up yet another assist when passing short to Gilliead, who cut across the edge of the penalty area before stroking in a fantastic shot with his left foot.
Our fast-paced counter-attacking football continued to trouble the struggling Glovers, who’d won just one of their last 11 league matches. An excellent Gilliead cross set up a golden opportuntiy for Clarke in the 28th minute, but he didn’t strike it cleanly. Jack had another effort just before half-time, but that was saved by goalkeeper Mark Howard, who had to work especially hard in this match after being hampered by a shaky defence.
It was a rather quieter afternoon for Woodman, who only needed to make three saves to thwart an impotent Yeovil attack. Freddie also received vital assistance from right-back Ryan Sears, whose heroic 88th-minute block denied Jonathan Obika the chance to get the hosts back in the game. Just two minutes before then, Gilliead had doubled our lead with a stunning volley from left-back Denton’s cross.
We then completed a 3-0 win – and our first league clean sheet since November – when Colkett’s injury-time corner was headed in by substitute target man Matt Smith. That result took us up from 5th to 3rd, while Yeovil stayed second-from-bottom and parted company with manager Michael Flynn just hours later.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs SOUTHEND UNITED (League One, Match 34)
Southend were wildly inconsistent, so this match could well have swung either way. It could have been advantage Shrimpers after four minutes, but midfielder Jacob Davenport’s shot from the ‘D’ came back off the bar before being cleared by Colkett. Nine minutes later, Charlie had a go from the opposite penalty arc, cracking in a first-time shot from Morris’ pass to give us a 1-0 lead.
Southend couldn’t get back in the game after those two early attacks. On-loan Chelsea winger Juan Castillo’s header in the 21st minute forced Woodman into what proved to be his only save of the afternoon. Castillo had another chance just before the break, but after he flicked Jason Demetriou’s header over the bar, United never really threatened us again.
We bossed possession in the second half, though we failed to convert our dominance into any further goals. Angol and Kaikai could each be as erratic as our opponents, and they both failed to do themselves justice here with some wayward finishing. Not to worry, because Colkett’s stunner – and an assured display from our back four – allowed us to seal another narrow home victory.
Excitingly, we were now just one point behind 2nd-placed Coventry, whose 2-0 defeat at Hull allowed Charlton to build a six-point lead at the summit. Next up for us the following weekend was a huge game at Kenilworth Road against 4th-placed Luton. The Hatters would leapfrog us if they won, but we had our sights set on potentially overtaking Coventry if we bettered their result against Peterborough.
LUTON TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 35)
Take that, Steve Evans! Five months after losing at home to Luton back in September, we exacted sweet revenge on Luton at their own place.
A fast-paced first half somehow finished goalless, though Gilliead did find the net in the 15th minute when he half-volleyed home after North’s piledriver came back off the woodwork. Unfortunately, Alex was clearly offside when Jack fired his initial shot, so the goal didn’t count.
While I tried to keep spirits up in the away dressing room at half-time, Evans apparently put rockets up his players’ backsides. They stormed out of the blocks when play kicked off again, with striker Danny Rose – a deadline-day signing from Mansfield – putting them 1-0 up after 30 seconds. Kal Naismith crossed right to Marley Watkins and then watched the Welshman whip a centre to Rose, who got ahead of Howkins to poke in the finish.
In the 50th minute, though, Little got us back level with a huge long ball over the Luton defence. Mwandwe had been picked to start up front ahead of Angol and Clarke, and the 20-year-old proved his worth by breaking away to blast in the equaliser. That was Fumpa’s ninth goal of the season.
I made another big call midway through the half, substituting an out-of-form North for utility man Danny Redmond. Danny made his mark in the 75th minute, exchanging passes with Charlie before drilling in a lethal 25-yard strike to edge us ahead. Though Luton made a late push to try and equalise, another sub secured us the points when Mir half-volleyed a Denton cross into the net in stoppage time.
Unfortunately, Mickel Miller scored an 81st-minute winner for Coventry against Peterborough, which meant we ended February still in 3rd place. However, Charlton’s recent strong form had been ended by a 3-0 defeat at mid-table Colchester, which meant we were just four points off the lead.
We’re scheduled to play Coventry at the Ricoh Arena on 13 March. If we can get a victory there… then whisper it quietly, but we could be in a title race. After winning four straight matches in February, I half-expect us to have our rear ends handed to us next month, especially as I’ve just been cursed:
Yes, I’m the latest manager to drink from the so-called poisoned chalice that is the Manager of the Month award. It’s the first time I’ve won that accolade at Shrewsbury, and indeed during FM19. The news got a rather mixed response from our fans on social media.
Dear old Elsie from the local residential home seems to have become quite the fan of Yours Truly, but I fear she might have lost her marbles! Believe me, there are some days when I wish I WASN’T Christopher Fuller, so I don’t know why anyone else would want to be in my shoes! (And before you ask… no, Monique is not my girlfriend. I am sadly very single on that front.)
It’s funny how much better things can become once you get out of a bad patch, isn’t it? That four-game winning streak has put us in a good position to bump Coventry out of the top two in the next chapter. Come back soon to see if we can take a huge stride towards securing that elusive promotion!
Fuller FM 
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