Marcus Braddock takes a look at all things Shrewsbury Town
Last week I missed the weekly round-up because of quite a bad case of Flu and although some symptoms still prevail, the weekends result cheered me up no end. It capped quite a positive week for Shrewsbury Town which started with awards for both players and fans.
Last Monday, Tyrese Campbell was rewarded for some excellent performances with the EFL Young Player of the Month award for February. On the same day, the news was announced that Town fans Roger Groves and Mike Davis had been awarded the EFL Supporters of the year award to go with their League One supporters award. The award is very well deserved and not just for their work in the last 12 months, they've both been giving their time to enhance the experience of Town fans for many years. But this year they've helped to push our club into the spotlight for the right reasons and taken the leading role in a national conversation, something for us all to be proud of.
On Friday, the date for this years End of Season Awards Night was announced with the black tie event taking place in the Sovereign Suite at Montgomery Waters Meadow on Sunday May 5th, 7pm. These events are always well attended and memorable with interviews, presentations and an excellent three-course meal. Sam Ricketts and his team will all be in attendance making it an evening to remember at a very reasonable price. Details can be found elsewhere on this website.
On the pitch it was the youth team who played first this week with an unusual Friday fixture at home to a good Carlisle team. Although they created early chances it was Carlisle who inflicted first blood but Town were back on level terms quickly from Archie Elmore's conversion of Jamie Valler's assist. Sadly, United retook their lead before half time but Kian Taylor levelled in the second half with Luke Ward supplying the assist. With less than ten minutes to go, Carlisle took the lead again but there was no comeback this time with the minutes quickly ebbing away. This coming Saturday sees the youth team travel to Morecambe who they beat 2-0 at home in late September.
The first team had a bit of a bug going around last week which made preparations a little more complicated for the Gillingham game. Given the illness, I was impressed with performances throughout the team as we looked to dominate a lacklustre Gills team. Our goals came in the second half with one for James Bolton and another for Tyrese Campbell, capping off a great week for him.
The result has put us in a much better position with fifty points and with a six point gap to the relegation places. However, it's still tight at the bottom and I'd like the comfort of another point or three before I feel safe to talk about next season in League One. Our next game looks the least likely to supply those points as we play Barnsley away next and they've unbeaten at home this season. They've drawn a few there this season though there is hope for us to get something but I suspect results elsewhere may prove as important to us as our own as some relegation candidates play each other.
The Barnsley game is on Friday because of this weekends religious holiday which means we also have a game on the following Monday. The game in question is at home to Oxford United who have been in very good form recently going six games without defeat, a sequence that includes four clean sheets and four wins. So we have a difficult weekend ahead in Sky Bet League One. Hopefully we won't be comfort eating Easter treats come Tuesday night!
P.S. As I was spellchecking I saw the news that we've now sold 3000 season tickets, what an impressive bunch of supporters we have!