Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town suffered late heartbreak on Saturday afternoon after an 89th-minute goal sealed a 1-0 win for Bolton Wanderers at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

Salop dominated the first period, and the majority of play was spent in the visitor’s half. Elliott Bennett, David Davies, and Josh Vela were causing the Bolton left-hand side constant problems and all the chances fell to Shrewsbury in the first half. The best chance of the half fell to Ryan Bowman in the 27^th minute. The Salop striker did well to get deep inside the Wanderers' half before cutting inside onto his left foot and sending his marker the wrong way. Bowman, however, couldn’t find either corner of the goal and fired his shot straight at James Trafford.

The second half was more end-to-end, with both sides challenging the opposition goalkeeper more and getting more clear-cut opportunities. Dan Udoh forced Trafford into a great save in the 52^nd minute as his low-driven shot stung the palms of Trafford, who did well to get down quickly and tip the ball wide. Marko Marosi was then forced into a carbon copy save in the 64^th minute when a shot from Dion Charles forced him to get down and tip it wide.

Salop always looked dangerous from crosses into the box but just could seem to find an opening. Bowman rose highest from a Bennett cross and came agonisingly close with his header, but it just went over the crossbar. The same happened again – this time from Pennington – just missed the target.

George Nurse whipped in a couple of dangerous crosses in the 80^th minute and for a moment it looked as if Salop would find the opener as Ryan Bowman rose highest but, again, Shrewsbury couldn’t test the goalkeeper.

With the scores level as the game entered the final few moments, it was always going to take something special to seal the three points and unfortunately, on this occasion, it wasn’t to be for Salop as Dion Charles struck a shot on the half volley into the top corner. The wonder-strike gave Marosi no chance and proved enough to win the fixture as Bolton took all three points back to Lancashire.

Teams:

Salop: Marko Marosi (GK), Luke Leahy, Ethan Ebanks-Landell (C), Matthew Pennington, Josh Vela, Dan Udoh (Saikou Janneh, 78’), Ryan Bowman, Nathanael Ogbeta (Tom Bloxham, 90^th), David Davies, Elliott Bennett, George Nurse

Subs Not Used: Harry Burgoyne (GK), Aaron Pierre, Tyrese Fornah, Rekeil Pyke, Josh Daniels 

Bolton Wanderers:  James Trafford (GK), Declan John, George Johnston, Ricardo Santos (C), Gethin Jones, Aaron Morley, MJ Williams, Kieran Lee (Oladapo Afolayan, 46’), Amadou Bakayoko (Jon Bodvarsson, 65’), Dion Charles, Marlon Fossey

Subs Not Used: Joel Dixon (GK), Will Aimson, Alex Baptiste, Liam Gordon, George Thomason

Bookings:

Matthew Pennington was booked in the 32^nd minute for a pulling back on Dion Charles' shirt. Nathanael Ogbeta was booked in the 67^th minute for what the referee deemed a hard tackle on Marlon Fossey.

Officials:

Referee: Charles Breakspear

Assistant Referees: Geoffrey Russell and Ian Smedley