Marcus Braddock takes his look back and forward in his weekly update
Another brilliant week has passed for Shrewsbury Town fans, another week of pinching ourselves every time we look at the League One table and I'm currently up to about 300 looks at the table per day. Another week involving two difficult to beat teams but I also felt a little extra apprehension as both have a recent history with Shrewsbury Town. Bristol Rovers saw us off in the Play-off final 10 years back and last season we got less than nothing in four games against Fleetwood. But in the end we were close to immaculate, killing off Rovers in a devastating first half and nullifying their prolific goal threat. It was good to beat somebody by more than the odd goal, I think a result like that had been coming for a while. Four different goal scorers is also nice to see too, each part of the team represented on the team sheet, including the goalkeeper with a clean sheet.
Fleetwood came to us as the only other team in the football league to have scored in every league game and they came with a game plan to frustrate us. For much of the game they managed to keep their flanks pretty well defended, doubling and trebling up on whichever side we tried. I presume the rest of the plan was to hit us when we become impatient commit too many men forward. But we were patient; we kept playing our game and when individuals were called upon to give that little bit extra, they gave it to us.
Everyone turned in a good performance but a couple of players stood out for us. Toto Nsiala was magnificent, dug us out when he was the last man. His goal was a perfectly weighted header from a fair few yards at the perfect time. Dean Henderson continues to do great things at the other end of the pitch and his celebrations when we score are well worth a look.
In beating Fleetwood we became the only team apart from Premier League Manchester City although City have played far less games, to be unbeaten. We've also completed a third of the season and we're still unbeaten going into this weekend’s trip to Peterborough United. The next milestone is at 26 games, mid way through the season; hopefully we'll be safe from relegation by then and can look toward an exciting end to the season. Come what may, I've rarely been this proud of a Shrewsbury Town team.
One crimp in an otherwise excellent seven days was the injury to Junior Brown in the second half. Since he arrived here he's been a revelation, oozing commitment to the cause his attitude on the pitch is admirable. He seemed to get his studs caught in the turf as he turned and you could tell it wasn't good as Junior isn't one to go down easily or stay down too long. We have excellent replacements but it's still a shame to see someone who has given everything suffer with injury. At the time of writing we have had no news about his injury but he's seeing a specialist and we should know more on Tuesday.
We've drawn Aldershot at home in the F.A. Cup first round. The Shots and Shrewsbury Town have a bit of a history in the cup and the league and a home draw gives us all another chance to see this excellent team in action!
Off the pitch, the big news is that Shrewsbury Town are going to have safe standing installed as the supporters campaign have been successful in raising there total, thanks to a large contribution from FansBet. Having worked for the supporters trust in the past myself, I know how much hard work will have gone into this campaign.
Shrewsbury Town Ladies beat Atherstone 13-0 away with Doster and Budd scoring five and four respectively. That's twenty-one goals in their last two games! They play Rugely based Brereton Town Ladies on Sunday at Shrewsbury College pitches on London Road at 2 pm.
The youth team didn't play this weekend but are back in action on Saturday at Bury.
COYB!!!
Marcus