LEAGUE: Wrexham 3-2 Shrewsbury Town
UNUSED SUB: Danny Stevens.
: Reece Airey (GK); Jake Phillips (Brandon Burrows, 57), Jordan Davies, Douglas Tharme (Scott McHarrie, 92), Oliver Marx, Ben Burrows, Leo Smith (Niall Freeman, 80), Rakim Newton, Tom Creamer, Leroy Jennings, Ryan Williams. WREXHAM LINE-UP
UNUSED SUBS: Jacob Rammell, Harri Lovett.
: Charlie Bannister (GK); Jake Kerins (Charley Higgs, 70), Joel Bonner, George Hughes, Callum Grogan, Chris Gallagher (Ryan Barnett, 82), Aaron Gilpin, John McAtee, George Hassall, Tyrone Ofori (Ethan Jones,63), Matthew Jones. SHREWSBURY TOWN LINE-UP
FULL-TIME: Wrexham 3-2 Shrewsbury Town
Wrexham managed to hold onto their lead for the rest of the game which meant that despite a valiant effort from the Shrewsbury players which was worthy of at least a point, they left with nothing meaning their five game unbeaten run also came to an end.
The goal had seemed to be a turning point for the away side as they started to apply considerable pressure on their cross-border rivals as Charley Higgs’ overhead kick struck the bar following a Chris Gallagher corner and Town thought they had won a penalty in the final 15 minutes when Gilpin was fouled but the linesman decided that the contact was outside the box despite the majority of the crowd and the Shrewsbury players disagreeing.
Ian Dawes immediately responded by replacing defender Jake Kerins with attacker Charley Higgs and the attacking intent seemed to work as substitute Ethan Jones was played through over the defenders before coolly lobbing the goalkeeper to give town hope going into the final 20 minutes.
Town looked to get back into the game by introducing Ethan Jones for Tyrone Ofori but it couldn’t stop the home side increasing their advantage six minutes after the second goal when the ball was worked to Wrexhams’ Smith inside the box before he calmly prodded the ball home to make the task even harder for the young Shrewsbury squad.
Despite this pressure it was the home side who re-took the lead when the impressive Smith hit a half volley from the edge of the box which slipped through the hands of Towns’ Aston Villa loanee, Charlie Bannister, and rolled into the bottom corner.
The start of the second half saw a much more open affair with both teams getting forward when in possession and it was Shrewsbury who had the better chances with Tyrone Ofori flashing a low shot past the post before McAtee hit a delightful half volley which hit the inside of the post and found George Hassall who had the ball in the back of the net, only to have it ruled out for offside.
HALF-TIME: Wrexham 1-1 Shrewsbury Town
Wrexham couldn’t hold onto their lead for very long and shortly after the restart John McAtee tried a speculative shot from 25 yards out which found its way into the back of the net after some questionable goalkeeping from the Reds’ stopper which meant that the teams went in level at the break.
The first 40 minutes of the game was largely uneventful with neither team able to provide the two goalkeepers with a challenge but in the 42nd minute Wrexham broke the deadlock when Leo Smith jinked his way through the Town defence, who weren’t able to put in a strong enough challenge, before unleashing a left footed strike into the far corner.
Ian Dawes made four changes to the side victorious against Preston last week with Ryan Sears, Callum Roberts, Jack Butts and Ethan Jones being replaced by Jake Kerins, Joel Bonner, Aaron Gilpin and Tyrone Ofori.
Town travelled to Colliers Park training ground on to take on Wrexham in their penultimate away fixture of the season.