After a fantastic February, Shrewsbury Town fans are growing ever more optimistic that 2020/2021 will be a promotion season.
It’s now up to me and my players to carry our excellent form over into March and April, and potentially overtake Coventry City and Charlton Athletic. It won’t be too easy, mind, as we face both of the top two away from home over the coming weeks.
We’ll also be looking nervously over our shoulder, with several teams primed to take advantage of any slip-ups and potentially wipe us of the top six. In a league that’s as tight as League One, there’s a very thin line between glory and failure…
YOUTH UPDATE & INTAKE
I’m beginning this chapter by touching on some of the developments our younger homegrown players have made of late. I’ll firstly update you on our five loanees, the most impressive of which has arguably been Joshua Whitfield. The 17-year-old winger has provided five goals and six assists for Kettering in the National League North and will surely warrant a professional contract soon.
Unfortunately, Ryan Barnett has not kicked on during his latest loan spell. Some mediocre performances for a mid-table York team in the National League have dampened my expectations of a midfield playmaker I once rated so highly. Ryan’s contract with us expires in the summer, and I’m not completely convinced he deserves a renewal.
As for our other loan stars, defender Ryan Millington‘s stint at Woking has been disrupted by a long-term hip injury. He’s likely to be released in the summer, and so too are midfielder Ryan Grosvenor and striker John McAtee, who’ve both disappointed at Chester and Kidderminster respectively.
Another youth product named Ryan is making steadier progress in the first-team. Ryan Sears is now established as our second-choice right-back, though senior appearances have been rather sporadic of late. The 22-year-old Welshman excelled in his last outing at Yeovil and is consistently improving on his tackling, so there’s still plenty of reason for optimism with him.
The same is true of Lifumpa Mwandwe, who’s scored nine goals in 26 senior matches thus far this term. Fumpa has made significant strides physically and mentally, and he’s now an accomplished inside-forward. With his dribbling abilities and his pace, the 20-year-old could potentially be more useful in that role than as an out-and-out striker.
Our Under-18s team are doing okay in their league without really challenging for the title. Richard Evans has been a consistently impressive operator in midfield, while Danny Hughes has regularly created scoring chances, and Nathan Beard has often taken them. All three starlets are progressing well in training and could yet see more senior action before the season is out.
Now let’s look at the latest batch of talents who’ve just come up from the Under-16s:
I signed everyone from the previous two youth intakes, but as I feel that makes the Under-18s squad too large, I’ve taken a more selective approach this year. Nine of the 16 players listed above have been given youth contracts, but the other seven – highlighted in red – have not.
At first glance, this year’s intake looks underwhelming. Even so, there are still a few lads who could be developed into useful players, including this one:
James Ramsey is the latest Shrewsbury-born talent to join our Under-18s side. He’s a promising goalkeeper with competent handling skills and reflexes, though his positioning is a bit iffy. I’ll track Rambo’s development closely over the coming years in the hope that he could one day don the gloves for the senior team.
There are also a couple of midfielders perhaps worth keeping tabs on. Despite his somewhat low initial star ratings, Martin Courtney is rated by my assistant Craig Brewster as having quite significant potential. Courtney is a hard-working and aggressive ball-winner with plenty of stamina, so Brewster might have a point.
There is also some optimism about Danny Crowley – a budding deep-lying playmaker with a fairly professional personality. I hear Ozzy Osbourne’s quite the fan of young Mr Crowley.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs ROTHERHAM UNITED (League One, Match 36)
Unfortunately, our captain Richie Smallwood pulled a hamstring in training just before we hosted his former club Rotherham. David Edwards took on leadership duties in his place as we recorded a straightforward win over Nigel Clough’s Millers, who – like us – had recently been in good form.
We put our noses in front after 12 minutes, when Sullay Kaikai‘s delivery across the Rotherham box was powered into the net by winger Alex Gilliead. Mind you, we nearly lost our lead barely 20 minutes later, when Millers striker Michael Obafemi was sent through on goal by Dominic Ball. The Republic of Ireland international was only kept off the scoresheet by another fine stop from Freddie Woodman.
After that scare, we looked to strengthen our position on the hour mark. Kaikai attempted to set up Gilliead again, only for visiting left-back Tom Pearce to intercept his cross. As the ball headed towards the middle of the penalty area, a quick-thinking Lee Angol stretched out a leg to beat defender Kyle Bartley and divert it across the line.
Even at 2-0 down, Clough did not stray from an overly cautious 5-4-1 formation, and we continued to boss proceedings until full-time. We could have ended up winning 3-0, but Angol fired his 83rd-minute penalty too close to keeper Marco Silvestri after Bartley had pushed Shrews centre-back Kyle Howkins. Never mind…
Meanwhile, the top two clashed at The Valley, where goals from Yannick Touré and Chris Martin saw leaders Charlton prevail 2-0 against Coventry. Crucially, that meant we leapfrogged Coventry into 2nd by a couple of points! The Sky Blues awaited us in a HUGE match the following weekend, but before that, we had a midweek encounter with some old adversaries…
FLEETWOOD TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 37)
Wow. After seven games without defeat, this was quite a fall from grace. Nigel Pearson’s Fleetwood side were absolutely clinical in front of goal, but it probably helped that our defenders had their heads in the sand like proverbial ostriches.
Having looked like relegation candidates for much of the season, the Cod Army had recently hit form and were making a late push for the play-offs. They continued their good run in the 17th minute, when Conor McAleny stroked in a fine finish from Josh Cullen’s pass. The former Everton forward doubled his tally 10 minutes before half-time, thundering in a rebound after Sears had cleared Chris Long’s header off the line.
The punishment continued with two quickfire goals early in the second period. Firstly in the 50th minute, Luke Thomas decided he wanted in on the fun and nodded in a Cullen corner at the near post. Barely a minute later, our former loanee Kane Wilson tormented us with an excellent cross that allowed McAleny to complete his hat-trick. Fleetwood had converted four of their five shots on target and were in total control.
Though a bruised ankle stopped McAleny from inflicting further punishment, there was no way back for us. The fact that Angol got our highest match rating of 6.8 – despite only playing the final half-hour – tells you a lot about how poor we were at both ends of the pitch. Having the majority of possession mattered for nothing here.
Unlike a certain former Fleetwood manager, I took this defeat – my heaviest as Shrewsbury boss – with rather good grace. Coventry only drew 1-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday, which meant they merely halved their two-point deficit on us instead of overhauling it. We therefore went into our Ricoh Arena showdown still occupying 2nd spot, though only just.
COVENTRY CITY vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 38)
To be honest, I’d expected a bit more drama here. Both teams looked a bit on edge during a first half in which they struggled to create good scoring opportunities. The best of them fell Coventry’s way in the 41st minute, but midfielder Abu Ogogo smashed striker Jordy Hiwula’s lay-off against the post.
Things started to pick up in the second half – the 60th minute, to be precise. That was when Angol put us in front, exchanging passes with Edwards before taking on the Coventry defence and sliding in a low finish. About 45 seconds after that, though, City rebounded with a quick equaliser, which Hiwula cleverly set up for his strike partner Conor Chaplin.
The Sky Blues edged the final half-hour and were arguably unlucky not to snatch a win late on. Substitute winger Jodi Jones twice missed the target from distance before his colleagues Chaplin and Tom Bayliss had efforts saved by Woodman. In the end, I was perhaps happier than my opposing manager Paul Warne to have a share of the points.
We thus stayed one point ahead of our Midlands rivals, though 4th-placed Portsmouth were now only two behind us after beating Peterborough 1-0 for a third straight win. Charlton also made it three victories on the trot after battling past our fiercest rivals – and next opponents – Walsall to build a nine-point lead.
Luton’s recent steady decline continued with a 1-1 home draw against Bradford, which proved to be Steve Evans’ last match in charge. A few days later, the Glaswegian hot-footed it to Edinburgh to become Hibernian’s new manager. I wasn’t too surprised by far, for Evans always struck me as the kind of man who would jump off a cliff if he knew there was a tenner and a hot dog in it for him.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs WALSALL (League One, Match 39)
Since we beat them 3-1 at the Bescot Stadium in October, Walsall had sacked as many managers as they’d won matches (two apiece) and become embroiled in a desperate survival battle. Now under the temporary guidance of Paul Clement, the Saddlers endured more pain at New Meadow as their winless run stretched to 16 games.
Though Walsall keeper Liam Roberts made three astonishing saves in the first 10 minutes, his resistance was shattered in the 11th by our evergreen vice-skipper. When Russell Martin’s clearance of a Little cross dipped towards Edwards, the 35-year-old Welshman crashed a volley in off the woodwork, to the delight of our fans!
Those Salopian smiles grew wider still at around the half-hour mark. Firstly, one of Smallwood’s trademark corners was flicked in at the near post for only Howkins’ second goal this season. A more familiar scorer then made it 3-0 shortly afterwards, as Jack Clarke flicked Little’s floating delivery across the six-yard box for Gilliead to tuck it away.
Our first-half dominance over the shellshocked Saddlers effectively rendered the second period moot. Howkins and co hardly had anything meaningful to do in defence, so toothless was Walsall’s attack. Suffice to say, we coasted to probably our easiest win of the season.
Coventry weren’t in action during this weekend, as their match at Mansfield had been postponed due to international call-ups. Portsmouth were in action, but they were perhaps wishing they’d had a rest instead after losing 4-3 at bottom club Scunthorpe. Luton moved above Pompey into 4th spot following a slender 1-0 away win over Dover.
As March drew towards a close, the Shrewsbury board finally offered me a new contract. I eked out an extra £200 per week to increase my weekly wage to £2,900, which would get a further 20% rise in the event of promotion.
Though my new contract runs until the summer of 2023, I will still resign at the end of the 2021/2022 season if we still haven’t gone up to the Championship. Indeed, I might well quit after THIS season if we falter in the play-offs again. Just a heads-up.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BRADFORD CITY (League One, Match 40)
So that’s SIX times we’ve played Bradford, SIX times we’ve beaten Bradford – and SIX different Bradford managers I’ve seen off in battle. Mind you, 32-year-old Leigh Downing (the EFL’s second-youngest manager after Yours Truly) came very close to snatching a precious away point for the Bantams. Maybe he will get to keep his job for more than a few months after all…
Bradford were in 20th place, with a couple of recent victories giving them fresh hope of survival. They started confidently at New Meadow, with Tyrese Campbell having a shot saved by Woodman after just 10 minutes. Swedish attacking midfielder Peter Gwargis also got a couple of efforts on target, though arguably his best chance in the 38th minute hit the post.
We struggled to create attacks of our own, with Gilliead nursing a pulled hamstring for about 15 minutes before breaking down on the stroke of half-time. Seven minutes later, City lost a player of their own. Successive slide tackles on Edwards and Denton took a heavy toll on Theofanis Tzandaris’ knee, and the combative ball-winning midfielder was withdrawn.
Bradford’s defence wasn’t quite so safe without Tzandaris protecting them. A brave resistance was shattered in the closing stages, when two substitutes helped us secure the points. Firstly in the 87th minute, Matt Smith lofted an excellent ball into space for Clarke to fire it past the keeper. Two minutes later, Mwandwe volleyed in a Denton cross to secure victory with his 10th goal of the campaign.
That late, late Shrewsbury show retained our four-point lead over Coventry, who also needed a relatively late goal from Bayliss to see off Scunthorpe. The Sky Blues were back in action three days later, when they played their game in hand at Mansfield…
…and LOST 1-0! David Wheeler was the man of the moment, scoring what proved to be the winner after 28 minutes to give our automatic promotion charge a huge boost!
Though there were still six games left to play, we were looking pretty good in that top two. As long as we kept our nerves, we would finally banish the awful memories of three consecutive play-off defeats and book our place in next season’s Championship.
However, our next match was sure to be our toughest yet. Possessing a confident team with a stingy defence, Charlton were closing in on ending a five-year exile from the Championship. Though victory at The Valley would temporarily put us top of the table, the Addicks would still have two games in hand. Get ready for an absolute belter…
CHARLTON ATHLETIC vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 41)
Okay, maybe not. Rather than enjoying an Easter epic, it was a long Good Friday for Charlton and Shrewsbury fans. A very cagey first half didn’t see a single shot on target, with Jack North squandering arguably the best chance for Salop after just three minutes.
Jake Forster-Caskey went close for Charlton early in the second period, though that was followed by an encouraging spell from the Shrews. Tosin Adarabioyo got the first shot on target after 56 minutes, when his header from Smallwood’s corner was blocked by Addicks keeper Connor Ripley. Another of our captain’s corners a minute later saw us find the net, but Mwandwe’s finish was flagged for offside after Howkins had hit the bar.
Although we never again came close to breaking the deadlock, Howkins rebounded from his disappointment to shut Athletic out with another strong defensive display. Our number 1 also came out with a lot of credit, as Woodman pulled off two fantastic stops to stop Charlton midfielder Joe Aribo grabbing a late winner.
A disappointing match thus ended 0-0… but so did Coventry’s visit to Burton, which squandered a chance for City to make up some ground. Luton and Portsmouth both won their matches to move to within touching distance of the faltering Sky Blues.
MANSFIELD TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 42)
Seeing baseball cap-wearing long-ball merchant Tony Pulis in the opposition dugout can make a team do strange things. Against 13th-placed Mansfield, we inexplicably lost our discipline, lost control of the match and – ultimately – lost the points.
Ryan Haynes went into the book after just 57 seconds following a clumsy challenge on Stags striker Nick Okoro – the first of a whopping 25 fouls we conceded. Six other Shrews would collect bookings in the second period to cop us a £25,000 fine from the EFL. Indeed, the only four members of our starting XI to avoid the referee’s wrath were Woodman, Sears, Edwards and – ironically – our hardman skipper Smallwood.
When we actually decided to play football, we only showed glimpses of our attacking talent. The enigmatic Angol and Kaikai were both hugely frustrating up front as Mansfield largely restricted us to hopeless long-rangers. To be fair, we did the same at our end and were on course to grind out a 0-0 draw… until 15 minutes from the end.
Arguably the one weakness in our defence was Sears at right-back. Though the young Welshman did well to nod Wheeler’s cross out of our box, he could only send it to Mansfield midfielder Matthew Worthington in the arc. The energetic midfielder passed first-time to ex-Hearts and Rangers forward David Templeton, who calmly drilled the ball home to end our four-game unbeaten run.
Surprisingly, our hold on 2nd place didn’t much damage despite the defeat. Coventry’s slump continued after they were beaten 3-2 at Oxford. Portsmouth defeated Wimbledon 2-1 to climb into 3rd, while 5th-placed Luton needed a 90th-minute penalty from Kal Naismith to save a 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.
Our hold on the second promotion place had been loosened to three points, though that was effectively four because of Portsmouth’s inferior goal difference. Coventry and Luton were just behind Pompey and were surely the only other teams who could stop us going up automatically.
That essentially meant three victories from our final four matches would likely enough for us to follow Charlton into the Championship. The rampant Addicks held a six-point lead with a couple of games in hand, so they would surely wrap up the title before long.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs OLDHAM ATHLETIC (League One, Match 43)
With three of our remaining four games coming at home against teams ranked no higher than 9th, you might’ve expected us to relish this golden opportunity to clinch promotion. However, if this meeting with mid-table Oldham suggested anything, it was that we were suffering a nasty, untimely case of the jitters.
Our goalkeeper Woodman was rather busier than his Oldham counterpart Craig MacGillivray in the first period. Jayson Molumby and Stephen McLaughlin were each denied openers for the visitors in the opening four minutes, while a header from striker Antoine Semenyo went just over the bar.
Though we managed to keep control of our discipline this time around, recent outings had dented our attackers’ confidence. Kaikai once again folded in a high-pressure game, and Mir’s crossing from the right wing was ineffective. To make matters worse, Angol appeared to have lost his killer touch, with all three of his attempts being stopped by MacGillivray.
The home fans made their feelings heard at full-time after we were shut out for the third game in a row. Our reception could have been even worse had an 85th-minute free-kick from Oldham substitute Jose Baxter not hit the woodwork. Even so, a 0-0 draw still felt more like two points squandered than one secured.
There was more bad news to come from the New York Stadium, where Portsmouth had beaten Rotherham 2-0 to close the gap on us to just one point. Coventry also tasted victory – triumphing 3-1 against Bradford – and were only a couple of points adrift themselves. Elsewhere, a surprise 2-1 home defeat to Bristol Rovers saw Luton drop to 6th, with Wimbledon leapfrogging them after beating Mansfield by the same score.
It was our imperative that we won our final away fixture of the regular season against Scunthorpe, who were second-from-bottom and already doomed to relegation. If we couldn’t heap on the misery at Glanford Park, it would surely spell disaster.
SCUNTHORPE UNITED vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 44)
We wasted little time in taking the game to Scunthorpe. The match was barely a minute old when Smallwood put one of his customary corners into the six-yard box. A helpful deflection off Iron defender Cameron Burgess’ chest diverted the ball towards Angol, who gladly gobbled up his 16th goal of the campaign.
Though Scunthorpe had a promising spell of attacking play midway through the first half, our narrow lead would be carried over into the second. One Shrews player who wouldn’t return after the interval, though, was Luke Garbutt. The former England Under-21s left-back was making his first start since January, but a slight calf strain meant Haynes took his place for the resumption.
Angol would find the net again from another corner – this time delivered by Charlie Colkett – in the 52nd minute. However, Lee unsubtly shoved goalkeeper Remi Matthews before heading Charlie’s corner into the target, so the officials rightly disallowed it. As we continued looking for a second goal, Angol was soon joined in attack by Mwandwe and then by Beard – a league debutant at 17 years of age.
After Scunny spurned opportunities to get back level, our greater attacking endeavour eventually told. In the 83rd minute, Haynes’ square-ball was sidefooted by Colkett towards Angol, who calmly finished his second goal of the afternoon. Ryan was also involved in our third and final goal three minutes later, with his cross escaping the defence before Fumpa thumped it home.
We were now guaranteed a play-off place at worst, meaning we could now focus solely on securing automatic promotion alongside champions-elect Charlton. Surely that win would give us some much-needed breathing space on Portsmouth? Erm, no…
Portsmouth just weren’t letting up, as they overcame Luton 3-1 for a fourth consecutive victory. However, 4th-placed Coventry lost valuable ground in drawing 0-0 against Dover. As for the other play-off contenders, we didn’t have to worry about them… yet.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs PETERBOROUGH UNITED (League One, Match 45)
Smallwood took on leadership duties to try and inspire his team-mates for our two remaining games at home to Peterborough and Colchester. A couple of victories would see us promoted, but it wouldn’t exactly be a straightforward task.
Peterborough, for instance, were still battling to get into the play-offs – and boy did they show their spirit at New Meadow. We just could not get a hold on the Posh during a first half which our visitors dominated – but they somehow didn’t score! Ivan Toney had a nightmare in front of goal, while his colleagues Siriki Dembélé and Callum Cooke each hit the woodwork from distance in the 23rd and 30th minutes.
Though Peterborough’s luck was deserting them, we were also reliant on another goalkeeping masterclass from Woodman. ‘SuperFred’ made four fine saves – the best coming after 65 minutes, when he tipped over Jonathan Grounds’ header from Dembélé’s free-kick.
At the other end, it was the same old sorry tale of wasteful finishing from the Shrews. Lee and Sullay flattered to deceive again as we went through a fourth game in five without scoring – an incredible run of profligacy from the division’s most prolific team. For the third time in April, we were involved in a mediocre 0-0 stalemate.
What the hell has happened? Have we turned into the Foldsville Bottlers from Chokelahoma? (To be fair, Coventry were choking even harder, with a late 2-0 loss against Luton putting them out of the automatic promotion picture.)
We now anxiously awaited the result at Huish Park. If Portsmouth could beat relegated Yeovil, they would jump above us into 2nd place. If not, our promotion fate would be in our hands on the final day…
DARN IT!
So Portsmouth now have the upper hand, and they can deny us automatic promotion by beating Bradford in their final match. We need to hope they slip up, so that we can jump back ahead of them with victory over Colchester at New Meadow.
Everything’s all set for a nail-biting final day, but I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it there for now. The final chapter of season 3 will go live on Monday morning, when we’ll find out if our ‘all-or-nothing’ push for Championship promotion is successful. Please don’t miss it.
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