Shrewsbury Town

Marcus Braddock's weekly look at all things Shrewsbury Town

Last week was tinged with great sadness with the passing of Shrewsbury Town Legend Ken Mulhearn. When I started supporting Shrewsbury Town Ken was edging toward the end of his playing career but I was lucky enough to see him play. He played for Town during some of our most historic seasons and is partly responsible for attracting so many of today's supporters to the club. I've lived in this town for more years than I care to remember and I've heard plenty of stories about players over the years but I never heard one that painted Ken in anything other than a good light, he was well liked by all and loved by many.

It's been another excellent week for the Shrewsbury Town first team, with a full week between games and three more points. Significantly the points were from an away game, our fifth away win in a row and one that makes us the best away team in League One so far this season with 38 points from 19 away games. It's an easy calculation to see that we have averaged two points per game from away games, an incredible stat from an incredible season.

The Scunthorpe game was a snowy affair where we didn't really get out of fourth gear but it did take a freakish goal from Josh Morris to get Scunny off the mark. Dean Henderson kept us in touch with the Iron with his excellent penalty save from Morris who will be annoyed that he didn't do better with his spot kick. We pretty much ran the second half and Jon Nolan was at the heart of our comeback with an excellent goal that showed his quick thinking, his pace with the ball and his foresight. I was really pleased to see him on the scoresheet, he's not scored for a while and I think it was frustrating him a little. It was also Jon Nolan who was fouled for the penalty, it's testament to the season that he's having that opposition players are so quick to try and stop him, sometimes too quickly for their own good. He's one of those players who can make things happen with his pace and also with his ability to see a pass and play it. It means he usually has more than one option when he has the ball, useful attributes in his position. For a man that has spent a fair amount of time on the bench recently, Stefan Payne took his penalty with unerring confidence.

We have another two games this week; on Tuesday night we travel to Northampton to take on 21st placed Northampton Town who have been in a bit of a rut recently with three draws and two defeats in their last five games. It's very tight toward the bottom of the division and three points would be very helpful in the Cobblers battle against the drop.

On Saturday we welcome AFC Wimbledon who also inhabit the lower portion of the division at the moment. Their form has picked up recently with just the one defeat in their last five and they may be a little fresher with no midweek game to play.

Shrewsbury Town Ladies had their game against Goldenhill postponed because of the weather conditions. Next Sunday they travel to Tamworth.

Towns under 18's put last weekend's defeat behind them with a draw at home to Tranmere Rovers. James Rowlands top corner strike put Town into the lead but an own goal in the second half meant it finished 1-1.

Looking forward, tickets for the Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley are now on general sale through ticketmaster. I also notice that the club are offering the last six games for the price of five which is an excellent deal given the quality of football that we've seen so far. It's a great way to ensure that you are there for the most important games in the history of Shrewsbury Town.