Shrewsbury Town

Town: Callum Burton, Ryan Hickman, Tom Astley, George Carpenter (c), Jack Richards, Alex Fletcher (Sam Brown 75), David Easthope, Sam Molyneux, Matty Jones (Jack Parris 85), Josh Ginnelly, Kaiman Anderson (Jeff Watkins 60). 

Subs not used: Shaun Rowley

Although our performance on the whole was disappointing, particularly our passing, we created more than enough clear opportunities to take all three points. Our ability to simply pass to a team mate appeared to desert the boys for the majority of the game. Constantly relinquishing possession meant we were always going to run the risk of losing today’s game. 

In the opening 45 minutes Josh Ginnelly was our brightest player. He skipped past his opponent numerous times on the left wing but our failure to keep releasing Ginnelly on the full back hampered our creativity. We created the better opportunities in the first half and it was mainly Sam Molyneux who threatened the Blackpool goal. The best opportunity came when Ryan Hickman pulled his cross back for Molyneux but from close range he skied the ball over the crossbar. Out of possession we were organised and Blackpool’s main threat was a ball over the top when we failed to drop quickly enough. Blackpool were vulnerable in possession at the back and we pressed high up the pitch to force a mistake but when chances came we failed to capitalise. Before the end of the first half Matty Jones and Sam Molyneux shot harmlessly at goal when both should have done better.

In the opening 10 minutes of the second half we started brightly and we should have had the game wrapped up as two glorious chances fell for Sam Molyneux. The first chance came from some excellent combination play between Molyneux and Easthope which took the Blackpool centre back out the game. When Molyenux found himself clean through on goal his low shot was tipped around the post. From the resulting corner a well worked set piece routine found Jack Richards in acres of space on the edge of the box but his shot went wide. Quickly we carved out another chance, Ryan Hickman got himself into another advanced position from right back, and he picked out Sam Molyneux again with a neat pullback but, as in the first half, the shot from 8 yards flew over the crossbar.

Then the sucker punch came. We appeared to have good possession inside our own half but after some indecision from Carpenter he was closed down by the Blackpool centre forward. The loose ball appeared to have been dealt with by Callum Burton who rushed out his goal but the Blackpool attacker reached the ball first and rounded Burton before scoring. This was a disastrous goal to concede as it was completely avoidable and came after a great spell of pressure from ourselves. But if you fail to take your chances you are liable to be punished at the other end. 

Unfortunately we failed to recover from this set back and in the remaining 30 minutes we failed to conjure up another chance or a decent spell of possession which was extremely disappointing. When the going gets tough we are looking for all players to be brave and keep getting on the ball to make things happen but unfortunately no-one stepped up to the mark today after going 1-0 down.