Shrewsbury Town lose out 3-0 to Charlton Athletic.
Town: Steve Arnold, Ryan Haynes, Mat Sadler, Greg Docherty (Alex Gilliead, 59), Fejiri Okenabirhie, James Bolton, Aaron Amadi-Holloway (Lee Angol, 81), Luke Waterfall, Josh Laurent (Dave Edwards, 77), Ollie Norburn, Anthony Grant.
Subs: Danny Coyne, Dave Edwards, Omar Beckles, Lee Angol, Alex Gilliead, Abo Eisa, Ryan Sears.
Charlton: Dillon Phillips, Krystian Bielik (Anfernee Dijksteel, 81) , Patrick Bauer, Lyle Taylor, Darren Pratley, Ben Purrington, Karlan Grant, Albie Morgan (George Lapslie, 58), Chris Solly, Jonny Williams (Mark Marshall. 77), Naby Sarr.
Subs: Chris Maxwell, Anfernee Dijksteel, Mark Marshall, Billy Clarke, Tarique Fosu, George Lapslie, Reeco Hackett-Fairchild.
Referee: Anthony Backhouse
Assistants: Barry Cropp and Chris Isherwood
Fourth official: Mark Cunliffe
Attendance: 5995 (518)
Shrewsbury Town were unable to keep the recent good home form going and lost out to Charlton Athletic 3-0.
Lyle Taylor, Karlan Grant, and Darren Pratley were the trio on form to hand the visitors the three goals and three points.
Team News: Sam Ricketts reverted back to a similar line up compared to the previous league team sheets. Dave Edwards was also introduced to the match day squad and was named on the bench.
First Half:
Charlton Athletic looked like they had come to the Montgomery Waters Meadow determined to trouble the home side at any give chance. Town were under the cosh quite frequently within the first 10 minutes and Steve Arnold was kept busy, the keeper but stood firm to the barrages of Addicks crosses.
Both teams were proving hard to break down but Town would have been disappointed not to score in the 20th minute. Some great play saw Aaron Amadi-Holloway have the opportunity to put the ball across the face of the box. On the end of the ball was Josh Laurent, but the midfielder was denied a goal due to a great save from Dillon Phillips.
The visitors managed to take the lead in the 27th minute. Lyle Taylor managed to pounce on a mistake in the box and the Addicks man managed to push the ball over the line.
Despite going a goal down, the home side were the team trying to push hard to find that goal. Greg Docherty looked a threat in the other half and constantly put pressure on the Charlton back line.
Ryan Haynes came close right on the stroke of half-time. The defender’s tidy feet saw him move into half a yard of space just outside the box. Haynes let off his curling effort but the Charlton keeper covered well to make a goo d save.
The half came to an end with the Addicks in the lead. Lyle Taylor pounced on a mistake and broke the deadlock for the visitors.
Second-half.
A big mistake Ollie Norburn nearly cost Town another goal right afrer the second-half had resumed. The midfielder tried to play a ball back to Arnold but didn’t put enough power on the ball. Arnold however made a great one-on-one save to deny Karlan Grant.
Darren Pratley was given a yellow card in the 49th minute for blocking a Shrewsbury free-kick.
Another defensive mistake cost Town a second goal in the 55th minute. Luke Waterfall miss-timed his clearance and the ball fell to Pratley. The midfielder lashed a wonderful effort that nestled in the top right corner.
Arnold was called into action a number of times in the game but Town’s goalkeeper made another great one-on-one save in the 70th minute to deny Charlton a third goal.
Charlton were a penalty in the 80th minute. Anthony Grant made a challenge just inside the box but looked to have got the ball. Karlan Grant stood up to take the penalty and slotted the ball home in the left corner.
The game came to an end with Town suffering a disappointing 3-0 defeat.