Pre-season game ends with 1-0 defeat to Newport County
Shrewsbury Town: 1 Max O’Leary, 2 Aaron Pierre, 24 Ethan Ebanks-Landell, 6 Omar Beckles, 16 Romaine Vincelot, 11 Ryan Giles, 26 James Rowland, 15 Brad Walker, 19 Ryan Barnett, 10 Fejiri Okenabirhie, 20 Steve Morison
Subs: 5 Ro-Shaun Williams, 17 Donald Love, 21 Abo Eisa, 29 Kian Taylor, 22 Luke Waterfall, 23 Daniel Udoh, 7 Shaun Whalley, 30 Cameron Gregory (all came on)
Town took their pre-season training games on the road to Ludlow Football Stadium where they took ok Sky Bet League Two side Newport County.
The game kicked off in front of good numbers in the crowd and the early exchanges saw both sides trying to get to grips with each other.
Town looked bright early on with Giles finding lots of room down the left to get into good positions and deliver some decent crosses. Barnett and Rowland were combining well on the other side and Vincelot was putting in a strong performance in the centre with some tough tackles.
Town were creating some good openings and Okenabirhie had a good early chance on, which he put wide. Giles was creating well down the left and decent deliveries created a couple of good openings for Morison.
Newport were creating good openings themselves but the Town defence was looking strong, and had the pace to deal with the visitor's attacks.
The game was the normal pre-season affair with both sides having good periods of possession and chances in the opposition box.
Town had a good chance of 40 minutes when Barnett found the space to get in behind the defence, he put a good ball across that found Morison in space but he put his shot across goal and wide.
Town nearly handed Newport a great chance after the ball came back O’Leary, he was under pressure from the Amond and didn’t hold onto the ball, it dropped free but Beckles was covering and got there in time to clear up and clear the danger.
The half ended with a decent opening for Town after good build-up from Barnett saw him play the ball to Rowland, he turned his marker and drove into the box, he looked to cut the ball back but a Newport defender got an important block in.
Half-time: 0-0
The Second half got underway with changes for Town, Ro-Shaun Williams, Donald Love, Daniel Odoh, Luke Waterfall and Shaun Whalley on for Giles, Pierre, Eubanks-Landell, Morison and Okenabirhie
It was Newport who took the lead on 57 minutes, they found the space down the left with Amond who delivered a low cross into the box and there was Jamie Mat to put the ball home from close range
Minutes later Town were awarded a free-kick after a foul on the edge of the Newport box, Whalley stepped up and tried to curl it in but the Newport wall stood firm.
Chances were falling for Town and after good work from Barnett, he found space in behind the defence and delivered a good ball, it dropped to Udoh but he couldn’t connect, then Love tried his luck but a Newport foot got in first to clear.
There was another decent chance for Town after more good work on the edge of the box from Barnett, he showed good strength before putting the ball into space for Whalley, he connected but put his shot wide under pressure from the defender.
The majority of the attacking play was coming from Town and after some neat passing in and around the box the ball ended up with Taylor on the edge of the box, he looked to curl a shot into the top corner but it took a deflection and went out for a corner.
A Town corner was put into the Newport box, it was cleared to the edge of the box and there is Walker with a great volley but it was straight at King who gratefully collected.
Midway through the half Town made more changes with Cameron Gregory on for Max O’Leary, and Romaine Vincelot and James Rowland were replaced by Kian Taylor and Abo Eisa.
Newport had a good opening after Luke Waterfall gave away free-kick on the edge of the box, the ball was curled in across the face of the goal but Cam Gregory was equal to it and pulled off a good save to push the ball away.
With just over 5 minutes remaining Town had a great chance after Abo Eisa latched onto a clearance and was in behind the County defence, he drove towards goal and elected to shoot, Whalley was in space to his left, but his shot was over the bar.
Full-time: 0-1