Marcus Braddock gives his weekly look forward and back on things Shrewsbury Town
After just our second defeat at home this season there are still positives to take from the Plymouth game. Although we had fewer attempts on goal, we actually hit the target with almost all of them which is the sort of efficiency we need with just the one striker in our usual system. The goal we scored was the best of the three on show and it was actually better the second, third and fourth watches. The move was started by Jon Nolan whose running made space for teammate Alex Rodman who pushed into the box before laying it off to Max Lowe whose low cross went to Nolan again who found an unmarked Carlton Morris on the back post. There was also the penalty save that puts pressure on Paul Hurst to keep Craig MacGillivray between the sticks.
The equalizer was a quick long ball out from the keeper and I'm not sure we were quite as quick because our two centre backs had both drifted toward the middle to receive the long ball but they were beaten to it and a quick couple of lay-offs were enough to find the space to score. The winner was scruffy and uncharacteristic because the attack had more desire to score than ours did to clear their lines.
This week sees us in action twice with a visit to Fleetwood on Tuesday night and a return to the Montgomery Waters Meadow at the weekend to face Rotherham who are another team in form.
Shrewsbury Town Ladies were meant to face Ludlow in the Shropshire Cup but went through to the semi final without kicking a ball after Ludlow conceded the game. Next Sunday sees them take on Bilbrook at London Road pitches.
Meanwhile, the Under-18s continued their 100% start to 2018 with a 4-0 victory over Accrington Stanley, Tyrone Ofori came off the bench to bag a brace. They will now face Blackpool away in a rearranged game on Tuesday lunchtime.