Marcus Braddock brings us his weekly insight into the goings on at Town
With no midweek game we had a full seven days to get ready for the visit of ex-Premier League winners Blackburn. The club asked for a bumper crowd to help the lads which definitely helped, Blackburn were a noisy bunch and the atmosphere could have been very different if so many of us hadn't turned up. I thought we'd done enough to take the three points and to be honest I thought Blackburn were fortunate to take a point away. They did play some good football at times and Tony Mowbray made a last throw of the dice with three substitutions that worked for them. We'd had a couple of chances to be a couple ahead and I'd like us to be able to put games beyond teams, especially when we're the team with the upper hand. I know we've done incredibly well but had we been just a little more clinical in front of goal we'd be a further four points clear.
But that's a tiny little issue really, we've been better than any other team in the Football League and it's beginning to look like we're more than just a flash in the pan with almost a quarter of the season gone. Again it was difficult to pick out a man of the match, I thought that Ben Godfrey had another great game, as did Toto Nsiala but there wasn't a player in our team that stood out in terms of effort and commitment, they were consistently good throughout.
I do occasionally glance at social media and I notice that a couple of fans wondering if other teams will start to find us out soon but I'm not sure there is anything to “find out”. If your team ethos is one of hard work for each other, all other teams can do is try to out work us and if anyone manages that they deserve to beat us.
At the weekend we have Scunthorpe visiting the Montgomery Waters Meadow, a team that has managed six clean sheets in all competitions this season. The Iron have to play Gillingham before they play us and the Gills have lost less than fifty percent of their home games so Scunny have two difficult games this week.
Our other Shrewsbury Town teams have had mixed fortunes this week with the ladies losing to the Aston Villa Development squad. They will be looking to put that game behind them with a good result at Sutton Coldfield Town on Sunday at 2 PM.
Town’s Under 18’s were held to a draw on Saturday by Accrington Stanley. It was a hard fought game and own were one down at half time after striker Niall Watson broke the deadlock. A better second half saw Ethan O’Toole equalise before Lifumpa Mwandwe took the lead Accrington pulled one back just after the hour had Tom Riley sent off in the 88th minute. Harry Lovett volleyed the ball home as Stanley tried to clear making it 3-2 but Accrington equalized in injury time. Tomorrow, the under 18 squad travel to Blackpool and they also have an away game at Port Vale at the weekend.
In off the field news, Blue and Amber Fanzine and Trevor Fitch were added to the Shrewsbury Town squad after supporting the safe standing campaign. The running total is getting quite close to the revised target so there is no better time to contribute. Meanwhile, the club has revised Season Ticket prices which now give a saving of £3 per game when compared to regular ticket prices.