Shrewsbury Town

Under-18s suffer cup defeat

Shrewsbury Town suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of ten man Lincoln City by two goals to one in what was their opening cup match of the campaign.

Shrewsbury were forced to go on the defensive early on, when Ryan Millington had to make an early clearance, just after the home team were flagged for offside. From kick-off, City were applying early pressure on Cameron Gregory’s goal, with Shrewsbury struggling to get the ball out of their own half. In the 9th minute of the game, Town found a break-through, but the referee Jordan Griffiths momentarily stopped the game when Archie Elmore fouled Joshua Woodcock. Something that happened frequently throughout the game.

The first real chance for Shrewsbury came in the 16th minute when Lifumpa Mwandwe’s pass was too high and long for teammate Jamaine Turner to get onto the end of in what looked like a promising passage of play for The Blues. Lincoln reapplied the pressure a few minutes later, when Jordan Adebayo-Smith headed the ball wide after they were given a number of corners in quick succession. Mwandwe and Turner linked up well again but his shot on goal was cleared, with Luke Ward receiving the rebound but his shot went out for a goal kick. Ward was called into action again soon after; this time at the other end of the pitch as he defended a Lincoln City chance. The away team looked threatening, and they soon found their luck on goal in the 34th minute when Kyle Watkins found the net from a corner. Seconds before the referee blew for half-time, Daniel Walker almost found the equaliser when his volley rattled the underneath of the crossbar, but the ball couldn’t find its way over the line.

Shrewsbury started the second half looking to get a goal back, and their first chance came in the 49th minute but Rhys Davies caught the ball on the wrong edge of his foot and his shot went curling over the top of the crossbar. The home team were forced into a substitution when Ryan Millington injured himself after a tackle and was replaced by Zac Hartley. This impacted the game as three minutes later, Lincoln City’s Adebayo-Smith knocked the ball past a disappointed Gregory to double their lead.

Shrewsbury continued to find their first goal of the game when Turner broke away from many of the City players, but just as he was through on goal, he was brought down by Joshua Burns. Burns pleaded his case to the referee who dismissed his words and showed him a red card. This worked in favour for Shrewsbury as Ward found the back of Matthew White’s net from the resulting free kick, and rushed the ball back to the half way line to restart play. However, this didn’t come for several minutes as White received a lengthy spell of treatment. Adebayo-Smith looked to wrap up victory for Lincoln in the 72nd minute, but his shot inched wide of the post, and Gregory ensured this happened by diving to his left. Countless opportunities followed for Shrewsbury, but they were unable to capitalise on any of them and found it harder when skipper James Rowland was substituted in the remaining minutes when he picked up an injury.

This was Shrewsbury’s first loss of the season in all competitions, but will be looking to get back to winning ways against Preston North End in the league on Wednesday at home.

Team: Gregory, Millington (Hartley 56), R.Davies (Taylor 56), Rowland (O’Toole 90+7), Ward, T.Davies, Turner, Walker, Elmore (Grosvenor 45), Redding, Mwandwe

Unused sub: Sears