Our young inspirational reporter and massive Shrewsbury Town fan Corbin gives us his thoughts on our home victory against Doncaster.
“A game against high flying Doncaster at home, could we get a win to finally end our winless league run of 10 games. A run that’s amongst our worst of recent times.”
“No former striker in Fejiri to haunt us with his red card for Doncaster recently but former players in Ennis and Taylor being other possible threats to us.”
“Sam Ricketts rang in the changes once again, when results aren’t going our way he does seem to swap players around trying to find the right team to play his tactics his way and with our injury table over flowing it gave a chance for others to shine. On paper it looked like three at the back but we set up with four at the back in a 4-3-3 formation that in defence was more a 4-5-1 formation, Josh Vela with his first start since signing in January slotting in alongside Dave Edwards and Josh Laurent, the back 4 of Ramsey, Ebanks Landell, Pierre, Omar with McAleny Udoh and Lang as a front three, Max kept goal again.”
“The game started slowly with both teams cancelling each other out with a lot of niggly and needless stoppages by a whistle happy referee which stopped the game from flowing in the early stages. Neither team creating much with no end product, it was 15 minutes in that Doncaster had a first chance but that was headed over and Josh Laurent was yet again on his marauding runs but lacked any end product. About 25 minutes gone and two chances came and went first Vela shot was high and then Edwards with a shot but their keeper made a simple save. We had a corner on 30 minutes, the cross from Vela assisted by the wind caused a melee in the visitors box but despite the scramble no one could make that telling touch and the keeper managed to hold on to the goal bound effort. The last tester of a shot came from Doncaster in the first of two minutes added at the end of the half but Max got his whole body behind it, 0-0 at half time seemed to be a score us Shrewsbury fans are used to this season. We probably edged the first half but both teams carried little threat, the most telling stats of the first half was amount of fouls 17 in total disrupted the game.”
“The second half started and it seemed we were still in the dressing room as we were slow and allowed Doncaster to get their passing game going. An edge of the box shot bound for the top corner was superbly saved by O’Leary and a few minutes later a shot from 25 yards hit the post. The visitors were piling on the pressure and we struggled to get out of our own half but then on 60 minutes McAleny lost his marker on the left and he rifled a shot towards goal that was smartly saved but Doncaster pushed us back. We got sloppy with the ball, Pierre advanced forward and his jinking run caused panic at the back but his shot was off target, Goss came on for the injured McAleny and had a chance from a free kick which was narrowly over the bar.”
“Then the decisive moment, one that all us Town fans had nearly forgot we scored! A clever quick throw in from Vela into the box to Lang with his back to goal and he turned the defender and dug out a cross to the back post, local lad Dave Edwards unmarked planted his header into the net despite defenders trying to keep it out 1-0 to Shrewsbury with 75 minutes gone. The crowd were very happy jumping for joy and celebrating, the whole team ran to the bench as the subs, Ricketts, the staff and whole team embraced each other in joyous scenes.”
“The goal gave us belief and we looked sharper going forward and Lang had a deflected shot go wide, a minute later Laurent with one just over. Dave Edwards who was everywhere and playing like a captain should chased down a loose ball as the defender cleared it he caught Dave, this led to him limping off the field, lets hope he is fine as we need his experience, Walker replaced him and Cummings on for Lang.”
“Our nerves started jangling and you could sense the tension in the crowd as entering the last five minutes Doncaster threw everything at us and Max O’Leary rushed out twice to deny their shots. 5 minutes of time added on did nothing to help our concerns as we had seen it all too often this season, conceding late goals when we have been 1 -0 up but we hung on to 3 absolutely massive points.”
“My Man of The Match today is a clear winner captain marvel, local boy Dave Edwards one of the best performances he has had in the blue and amber since returning in January 2019. He was everywhere today helping defend set pieces, passes into front guys and was the right man in the right place for his headed goal which he took well. Lets hope his injury isn’t a season ending one as we need more of the same from Dave going forward. There were other notable performances Max O’Leary earned his wages today for sure, was very commanding and pulled off two very top quality saves.”
“So finally after two months of league football we win again, the scoreline has a familiar sound to it a 1 goal winning margin. All our wins being by the odd goal its never easy being a Salop fan and this game wasn’t a classic with only three shots on target but the one that mattered got us 3 points and a 15 point buffer to the relegation places. Perhaps Ricketts hasn’t had that call to the chairman’s office due to that, we have injuries but it’s the same for other teams and thats why its a squad game and not a team game. He is the manager after all, I would put Pierre in midfield as he is just a beast but Ricketts is way too cautious for that!”
“We go again Tuesday night with the return of Mickey Mellon, his previous result was a 6-0 loss for him and a repeat of that would make us all very happy!”
“See you all there.”
“Love & Peace, Corbin”
Thanks to Corbin for his thoughts on the game against Doncaster.
Corbin Davies
“Going Down The Oteley Road”
https://goingdowntheoteleyroad.home.blog/
Here at “Going Down The Oteley Road” we will be speaking to fans of our opposition throughout the season. Ahead of our League One game at home against Oxford United, we had a chat with a U’s fan.
Going Down The Oteley Road 