Shrewsbury Town started off 2022 with a bang and continued their brilliant home form with a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Montgomery Waters Meadow on Sunday afternoon.
A first-half stoppage-time goal from Matthew Pennington was enough for Steve Cotterill’s side to seal all three points for Salop as they moved up to 14th in the Sky Bet League One table and are now unbeaten in their last four league games.
There weren’t many chances for either side in the first half. Ryan Bowman had a good chance to open the scoring 26 minutes in when received the ball in the centre of the box, but his shot was blocked by Sam Hutchinson. Nathanael Ogbeta had a good chance three minutes later when he rose highest from a Josh Vela cross but his header was tame and straight at Bailey Peacock-Farrell in the Sheffield Wednesday goal. Marko Marosi wasn’t really tested in the first half either, apart from a 30-yard strike in the 33rd minute from Lewis Wing.
But - as soon as the fourth official held up his board to show the amount of stoppage time there was going to be at the end of the first half - Salop got their opener when a corner from Luke Leahy on the right-hand side was met by Matthew Pennington, who rose highest and headed home for his second goal of the season.
The second half played out in quite a predictable fashion. The visitors piled on more pressure and had large spells on the ball, whilst Salop sat back and defended well whilst trying to break quickly when they could. Bowman had a great opportunity to double Salop’s lead in the 54th minute when Rekil Pyke did well to keep hold of the ball in the box, before laying it off to Bowman who seemed almost certain to score but his effort went over the bar.
Marosi was forced into more action in the second half, making some key saves to keep Salop in the lead like he has done so many times in recent weeks. But despite the pressure from the visitors in the closing stages, Salop stayed resilient right until the end and secured their third clean sheet in a row.
The Teams:
Salop: Marko Marosi, Luke Leahy, Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Matthew Pennington, Josh Vela, Daniel Udoh (Rekiel Pyke, 45’ (Joshua Daniels, 90)), Ryan Bowman, Nathanael Ogbeta (Aaron Pierre, 71’), David Davies, Elliott Bennett, George Nurse
Subs not used: Harry Burgoyne, Sam Cosgrove, Charlie Caton, Kade Craig
Sheffield Wednesday: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Liam Palmer, Sam Hutchinson, Dennis Adeniran (Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, 57’), Lee Gregory, Barry Bannan, Callum Patterson (Ciaran Brennan, 29’), Marvin Johnson (Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, 65’), Theo Corbeanu, Saido Berahino, Lewis Wing
Subs not used: Joe Wildsmith, George Byers, Kwame Boateng, Sylla Sow
Officials:
Referee: Marc Edwards
Assistant Referees: Gary Hilton and Kevin Morris
Fourth Official: Simon Mather
Bookings:
Dennis Adeniran was lucky not to be shown a straight red in the 37th minute for an extremely late and reckless tackle on Josh Vela.
Josh Vela was booked in the 85th minute for dissent towards the referee.
Sam Hutchinson was booked in the 93rd minute for his reaction after a coming together with Marko Marosi.
