Goals from Whalley and Dodds give Town another pre-season
Shrewsbury Town Starting XI: 1 Dean Henderson, 5 Mat Sadler, 7 Shaun Whalley, 8 Abu Ogogo (Captain), 9 Carlton Morris, 10 Louis Dodds, 12 Junior Brown, 13 James Bolton, 20 Jon Nolan, 22 Aristote Nsiala, 23 Alex Rodman.
Shrewsbury Town Substitutes: 15 Craig MacGillivray, 11 Arthur Gnahoua, 14 Lennel John-Lewis, 16 Bryn Morris, 17 Ebou Adams, 18 Zak Jules, 21 Dan James, 39 Christos Shelis.
Cardiff City Starting XI: 25 Neil Etheridge, 2 Lee Peltier, 5 Bruno Ecuele Manga, 14 Sol Bamba, 6 Jazz Richards, 19 Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, 17 Aron Gunnarsson, 15 Greg Halford, 11 Kadeem Harris, 7 Lee Tomlin, 10 Kenneth Zohore.
Cardiff City Substitutes: 28 Oliver Byrne, 23 Matthew Kennedy, 3 Joe Bennett, 8 Joe Ralls, 9 Danny Ward, 27 Ibrahim Meite, 4 Sean Morrison, 20 Loic Damour, 31 Cameron Coxe, 13 Anthony Pilkington.
Chloe Lloyd reports from the Montgomery Waters Meadow
Shrewsbury faced Championship outfit Cardiff City at Montgomery Waters Meadow in their penultimate home pre-season fixture before the beginning of the 2017/18 League One campaign.
The opening minutes were a lively affair, with both teams creating dangerous chances. Salop's number 9 Carlton Morris saw his shot caught comfortably by City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge after a neat turn by the striker on the edge of the box.
Former Town loanee Nathaniel Mendez-Laing made his way into the box twisting and turning his defender. After escaping his marker he squared the ball to the dangerous Zohore positioned centrally on the edge of the 18-yard area. His right-footed shot was well blocked by the on rushing Nsiala, diverting the ball for a corner. The corner was punched away from the commanding Salop goalkeeper Henderson.
As viewed already this pre-season, Shrewsbury continued to look dangerous from set pieces, with a well taken corner headed narrowly wide by unchallenged Nsiala.
Nsiala then tripped Cardiff City centre forward Zohore following a long ball from the Cardiff backline, resulting in a free kick in a dangerous position. Lee Tomlin struck the free kick well, but his right footed shot from 23 yards went high and just wide of the target.
The opening goal came to the visitors just before the half time break. A communication error between Dean Henderson and his central defenders sitting in front saw Kenneth Zohore outmuscle Sadler, who squared the ball to Mendez-Laing allowing the Cardiff right winger to slot the ball past the stranded Henderson to make the score one-nil to the South Wales team.
HALF TIME: Shrewsbury 0 - 1 Cardiff City
Town began the second half on the front foot. Three minutes after the interval Shaun Whalley darted into the box but had his run ended after a clear trip by Cardiff right back Lee Peltier giving referee Bobby Madelyn no choice but to point to the penalty spot. After winning the penalty, Whalley was confident enough to take the spot-kick himself. He dispatched the penalty calmly, shooting to the centre of the goal, with Etheridge only able to get a leg to the ball, which was not enough to stop the score line being leveled.
Shrewsbury quickly attacked again, and two minutes after the leveler being scored, the ball was in the back of the Cardiff City net once more. Another Whaley shot was blocked to the right of the 6-yard box. Instead of the ball being cleared by, it fell to the feet of Louis Dodds who's composed shot found its way into the bottom left hand corner of the net putting Salop in front.
Salop continued to impress offensively. Close control by Alex Rodman saw the former Notts County player accelerate away from the Cardiff defenders to find himself one-on-one with Etheridge albeit from a tight angle. After taking his time, City's Bamba was able to recover and get close and slid in poking the ball behind for another Shrews corner. The Town was again dangerous from this set play with the impressive Nsiala heading the ball back across the 6-yard area to be met by the leaping Junior Brown. Brown's thunderous header rocketed against the cross bar with Etheridge well beaten, however after hitting the bar the ball went over for a Cardiff goal kick.
A strong second half showing by Salop gave them the victory over Championship team Cardiff City who struggled to really test Town goalkeeper Dean Henderson. In the second half, Town were much quicker to move the ball when in possession, and press the Cardiff players when not. Overall, a very pleasing display from Shrewsbury, and one which fills the Salopian faithful with hope for the upcoming campaign.
FULL TIME: Shrewsbury Town 2 - 1 Cardiff City
Come On You Blues