ShrewsTRUST Man of the Match
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Town's good start to the season continued with a very hard fought win away to Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose.
Town got off to a great start with a goal from Matt Harrold in the first couple of minutes but after that they were really tested by a decent Macclesfield Town side.
In the end Town dug in and worked hard to earn themselves another important 3 points.
After the game manager Graham Turner spoke to the press and was asked for his thoughts on the game:"I think it was a difficult game, we knew it would be and that's exactly what we had to put up with today. They have got some size in the side, are organised and have an appetite for work and will upset a few sides this season and I'm grateful for the 3 points.
"The longer the game went on the more we got to grips with things defensively and might have added to our lead in the second half.
"I said to the players after Tuesday night that if you are flowing and playing well then you can end up scoring four, if you are not then you have to do a job defensively and grind out a result and that that is exactly what we had to do this afternoon.
"We have got the result by some hard work, by some brave defending and some intelligence."
It was Town's first clean sheet of the new season but the defence had to work hard to keep Macclesfield at bay. The defending was all over the pitch though with every player in a Town shirt putting doing what was asked of them:"It was always going to be a difficult game for Sharps and O'Donnell with all the balls launched at them from corners and set -pieces.
"They did very well but we also defended as a team when we didn't have the ball, and I can't remember our keeper making too many saves and that is testimony to the work we put in defensively.
"I'm still concerned by the fact that we gave away the ball too easily and I felt we could have pushed on a bit more but it is a really great result for us."
The early goal was a well worked opening and then a clinical finish from Matt Harrold. The Town manager had a special word for his striker who at times took a bit of a battering from the Macc defence:"It was a good bit of skill from Mat Sadler to get in round the back to set the ball up for Matt Harrold to score.
"Matt Harrold worked extremely hard all game and I think he was just playing of memory at the end of the game.
"We did seem a little sluggish at times and maybe we felt that it might be easy again and nearly got caught out."
There was an early change to the Town team with Chris Neal coming on to replace Ben Smith who had a slight groin problem:"Ben Smith had a slight groin strain and was feeling it a bit when he was kicking the ball.
"If it was just about goalkeeping them he could have probably got away with it but we though it wise to put on a fully fit keeper.
"To be fair Chris Neal did well once he came on as there were some difficult balls dipping in front of him."
