Marcus Braddock looks back at the last week in Shrewsbury Town
The last week has been incident packed with Town taking four points from six and going top of League One. We've also seen the sending off of our captain which has almost spoiled the week because I can’t see where our player did anything other than defend himself. If I dwell upon the incident too much it makes me angry so I'll move on from that particular injustice. The positive to take was that we equalized after losing Abu Ogogo and could have even won had we had a little luck.
Saturday's game against A.F.C. Wimbledon brought us all back to the Montgomery Waters Meadow for another 1-0 win and another sending off for a central midfielder! Bryn Morris had to walk after receiving his second yellow card, I thought it was a soft challenge to give a second card for and more a result of the work he had to get through during the game. Wimbledon had obviously done their homework and noted the absence of Ogogo because they put considerable pressure on Morris.
As usual we took something from the game, winning 1-0 but we now have a shortage in central midfield with Ben Godfrey injured, Abu Ogogo missing for three more games and Bryn Morris missing for one. Fortunately Morris is only suspended for one game but could this give someone an opportunity to stake a claim on the position so late into the campaign? We'll find out on Friday when we play Rochdale away but whoever it is they'll have to work very hard against a team who will be battling to get their first home win since early February.
Rochdale are in a bit of trouble at the moment, they're second bottom but they do have enough games in hand to get out of it, just. A win at home to us would be just what they need to give them some hope going forward and they're capable of beating an in form team, they beat high flying Rotherham away a week or so ago.
With Stefan Payne scoring his 10th goal in League One I thought I'd highlight his season a little because it's quite a good one so far. 10 goals may not seem an incredible haul but when you dig a little deeper you see he's only played an average of 45 minutes per game (1488 minutes played over 33 games). It's equivalent to scoring ten goals in 16.5 games, which I think is pretty impressive given that he's spent a fair time on the bench. At that rate, he'd score around thirty goals if he played every minute of every game!
Last weekend saw the Shrewsbury Town youth team head north to Carlisle United. United took the lead with a free kick just before half time and were also awarded a penalty in the second half. However, the home team missed their chance to go two goals ahead and Town drew level with a penalty of their own making it 1-1. The youth team are scheduled to play against Bury at 11.00 on Tuesday morning at Sundorne Sports Village.
Shrewsbury Town ladies didn't play this weekend but will be in action on Thursday in the League Cup against Goldenhill Wanderers. The game is scheduled to be played at Shrewsbury College at 7.45.
COYB!!