Marcus Braddock looks back at Shrewsbury Town's rich history in the Emirates FA Cup
There have been some nice features in the media recently that hark back to the Everton back in January 2003. However, that's not our only experience of beating top-flight teams in cup competitions, and we don't just do it at home. A few years back, Micky Mellon's team beat Premier League Leicester City 1-0 away in the EFL Cup with Andy Mangan getting the all-important winning goal. Before that, there was Swansea in the Carabao Cup, who we beat 3-1. They were a good Premier League team at the time and winners of the competition a year or so later.
Looking a little further back to 1991 when we were still by the Severn at Gay Meadow, John Bond's Shrewsbury Town Team outfought Wimbledon when they were the hardest fighting top-flight team in the country. Back even further to the 1980s and Bobby Robson's successful Ipswich team that won the UEFA and The FA Cup. We met them in the 3rd round of the F.A.Cup in1982 and won 2-1, with goals from Steve Cross and Jake King. That year we made it all the way to the quarter-finals but were knocked out by Leicester, featuring a very young Gary Lineker.
My earliest memory of the existence of Shrewsbury Town is from 1979 when we won 3-1 against Malcolm Allison's Manchester City in January 1979. It was a game I didn't attend but one that eventually drew me to the Meadow. Paul Maguire and Sammy Chapman made themselves Town legends that day by scoring with Maguire also assisting Chapman's header. We got to the quarter-finals that year, only to be put out by Wolves at Molineux Stadium after forcing a draw at Gay Meadow.
Sadly, Wolves also beat us last season in this competition although we made them work for it again, forcing a replay after a 2-2 draw. We even took the lead in the replay at one point after James Bolton and Josh Laurent both scored. West Ham were also held at Montgomery Waters Meadow the previous season before and needed extra time to put one past us.
We've entertained some of the best teams in the world in this stadium, but sadly we don't always beat them. In 2016 Manchester United brushed us aside 3-0 in the FA Cup and in 2014, Chelsea narrowly beat us 2-1 in the League cup, the same year that we beat Leicester away. I also seem to remember watching, Premier League Fulham beat us 1-0 at home in the League cup in 2007. The only other game that really sticks in my mind was the League Cup trip to Arsenal in 2011. They beat us 3-1, but we scored first through a James Collins header, and for a few minutes we were in a cup dreamland.
That's not to mention all the Championship teams we've beaten recently like Stoke, Derby, Cardiff, Bristol City, Huddersfield, Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool, and Norwich. If I've counted correctly, that's nine in the last ten years!