Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury travelled to the Alan Higgs Centre to face Coventry City in their third pre-season friendly. 

Coach Ian Dawes made six changes from the side that faced Burton Albion on Saturday with Joel Bonner, Nathan Millis, Joel Carta, Jacob Rammell, Tom King and Ryan Barnett coming in to replace Callum Roberts, Callum Grogan, George Hughes, Chris Gallagher, Matt Jones and John McAtee. 

Shrewsbury started the game stronger than their West Midlands opponents and had most of the possession for the first 10-15 minutes, with striker Ethan Jones being the main target for the attacks. 

The Shrewsbury wide players whipped a number of well-placed crosses into the box throughout the game but often there would be nobody to meet the crosses or if they did, they wouldn’t trouble the goalkeeper. 

The Shrewsbury midfield pulled off some very slick passing moves during the half which would often lead to the ball reaching second year scholar Jones but a lack of support up front meant that the attacks often fizzled out.  

The attacks appeared to spur on the Coventry players and the tables soon turned as Coventry were launching some good attacks but stopper Harry Lewis pulled off some fine saves to deny the Sky Blues. 

The Shrewsbury defence had to withstand numerous corners throughout the half, particularly towards to the end but they were dealt with by the two centre backs, Joel Bonner and Ryan Sears, very well initially however the team struggled to get the play out of their half. 

Eventually Coventry broke the deadlock through their number 9 when the striker received the ball on the edge of the box before making his way inside the town area and placing the ball into the bottom corner of Lewis’ net with a controlled finish. 

When the play restarted Coventry picked up where they left off and continually put pressure on the Shrewsbury defenders but they managed to hold on until the referee blew the whistle for half time. 

Half-time: Coventry 1-0 Shrewsbury 

During the half time break Dawes introduced all of his substitutes with Bonner, Barnett, Carta, King, Millis and Rammell coming off. The changes appeared to be a breath of fresh air for the Shrews as they started the second half brightly and seemed to be putting the attack minded Coventry team on the back foot. 

The away side created more chances in the second half and started to threaten the Coventry goal with Callum Grogan and Ethan Jones attempting to beat the goalkeeper. 

Substitutes Callum Roberts and Callum Grogan were arguably the more influential introductions as Roberts impressed with his confident play and his willingness to get on the ball while Grogan, along with his central parent Ryan Sears, was solid in defence. 

Similarly to the first half Coventry seemed to draw confidence from Shrewsbury’s inability to score and they had a few good chances and counter attacks which called young Lewis into action. 

Lewis comfortably saved most of the efforts on his goal and made a particularly impressive save when he had to go into a fifty-fifty with the Coventry attacker and managed to cleanly come away with the ball. 

Coventry did manage to hit the back of the net once more in the game but the goal was ruled out for offside as the attacker just strayed in front of the Shrews defensive line. 

Shrewsbury had more of the game towards the end and they started to put more pressure on the home side. 

The pick of the chances came from midfielder Tom King who attempted to curl an ambitious shot into the top corner from outside the box but there wasn’t sufficient power on the shot to beat the goalkeeper. 

Despite their best efforts towards the end, the Salop youngsters couldn’t get the goal to level so unfortunately it seemed a case of too little too late. 

Dawes’ side will look to bounce back when they travel to Watford for their next pre-season test on Saturday.

Shrewsbury Town: Harry Lewis (GK), Jack Butts, Joel Bonner, Ryan Sears, Nathan Millis, Joel Carta, Jacob Rammell, Tom King, Ethan Jones, Ryan Barnett, Joe Kenton.

Subs: George Hughes, Matt Jones, John McAtee, Callum Grogan, Chris Gallagher.

Coventry City: Addai (GK), Hickman, Thompson, Leahy, Camwell, Shipley, Bayliss, Hendricks, Finn, Whitmore, Smith.

Subs: Skuza (GK), Sambou, Albini, Maycock, Ford.