Shrewsbury Town earn all three points over Blackpool at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Shrewsbury earned their first home league win of the season against Blackpool thanks to a Dan Udoh first half goal.
With an unbeaten league record under Steve Cotterill, Shrewsbury Town began the game full of confidence pressing Blackpool’s backline and forcing the away side to look long.
It was the visitors who had the first effort on goal. A driving run by Kenneth Dougall sprung Blackpool forward, the ball fell to right back Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel but his shot was comfortably caught by Matija Sarkic.
It was Shaun Whalley who had the home side's first effort on goal. The frontman backed up his marker and turned away using the weight on the ball from Ollie Norburn but his shot was wide of the mark leaving the game goalless.
The Shrews looked the most likely as the half wore on. Whalley brought down a nice ball played to him down the line and cut the ball back for Josh Vela who fired his effort over the bar. Moments later, Whalley was involved again this time the ball fell to him in the area and his shot forced a smart save from the seasider’s keeper Sam Walker.
With ten left to play in the half, Town were awarded a penalty after the ball was played through the Blackpool backline and Whalley was cynically down in the area. Ollie Norburn stepped up but Walker made a smart save down to his right. Whalley then followed in but he couldn’t convert. The ball then found the feet of Udoh who made no mistake on the third time of asking for Shrewsbury giving them the lead.
The Seasiders had the first effort of the second half, Luke Garbutt curled a free kick over the wall forcing Sarkic into a diving save to keep Town ahead.
Shrewsbury grew into the second half soaking up the pressure, they eventually broke with Charlie Daniels who switched the play to Udoh, some nice play between Josh Vela and Jan Zamburek freed the later, his cross found Daniels who continued his run into the box but Walker denied the wingback from making it two-nil.
With 15 left to play, it was the men in the white and tangerine shirts who had the lion’s share of possession but Salop did well to soak up the pressure and threaten on the counter-attack.
Second half substitute Leon Clarke showed his experience as he held the play up. Town eventually worked the ball down left only for Vela to be bundled over winning the home side a free kick side deep in the opposing half.
Despite five additional minutes added, Shrewsbury showed their resilience to deny the home side an equaliser and take all three points in their final game of 2020.
The teams:
Shrewsbury Team: Matija Sarkic (GK), Aaron Pierre, Ro-Shaun Williams, Shaun Whalley, Ollie Norburn, Josh Vela, Jan Zamburek, Charlie Daniels, Josh Daniels, Dan Udoh, Ethan Ebanks-Landell.
Bench: Harry Burgoyne, Scott Golbourne, Dave Edwards, Leon Clarke, Shilow Tracey, Marc Pugh, Jason Cummings.
Blackpool Team: Sam Walker, Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, Ethan Robson, Keshi Anderson, Sullay Kaikai, Kenneth Dougall, Gary Madine, Daniel Kemp, Marvin Ekpiteta, Danny Ballard, Luke Garbutt.
Bench: Jack Sims, James Husband, Jerry Yates, Demetri Mitchell, Grant Ward, Ollie Turton, Bez Lubala.
