It’s getting to feel more and more like this every week. So the title this week is from the 2015 Tame Impala album “Currents”. Well, we are playing Shrewsbury, so it’s the closest I’m going to get to the Taming of the Shrew.
First up, quiz time answer – Walsall were one of the founder members of Division Two back in 1892, which other two sides in League Two this season were also founder members? And I gave a hint of we’ve played both of them already. The other two teams were Crewe Alexandra and Grimsby Town.
A week on from the impressive performance but ultimately disappointing draw at home against league leaders Walsall, we are in away action at Shrewsbury Town, the second away game on the trot against a team relegated with us from League One last season (third away game on the trot against teams we played in League One last season if you include the Vertu Trophy game at Leyton Orient). Someone was having fun with the scheduling as we play the other relegated side next week at home.
We have played Shrewsbury eight times in the league, winning two, drawing three, and losing three, of which the four away games have seen two losses, a draw, and a single win, in the final game of last season’s campaign. This is our first League Two encounter with them since our first season in the league. That game last season was one involving two teams for who relegation had already been confirmed. This game is one where both teams are desperately clambering to try and stay out of the relegation zone again.
We go into the game on the same point, and with the same goal difference, and we are only above them based on the fact we have scored one more goal than them so far. We are both one point above the bottom two, who in another quirk of the fixture list are also playing each other, so at least one of them are guaranteed points, a loss today will see us slip into the relegation places. It is a game both teams desperately need to win.
There is no current overlap with players on either side having played for both clubs, but in a link back to last week, Mat Sadler is one player who has played for both sides. Others to have played for both include Scott Shearer, Danny Hall, David Hunt, James Collins, Sullay Kaikai, Tyrone Barnett, Leon Clarke, and Junior Brown.
I had to dig quite deep to find a programme. And the only one I could find is the one from our first game against Shrewsbury back in this week in 2011 (which featured the aforementioned Tyrone Barnett, Scott Shearer, and David Hunt in the squad for us and James Collins in the squad for Shrewsbury).
Back then it wasn’t a case of two teams struggling in the bottom four; instead it was a top four battle.
How many people can find themselves on the page of squad sponsorship.
I’m still pissed off with Shrewsbury lying to me at the club shop on the final day last season when the queue was out the door and down the car park, and they told me programmes were available in the away end, only for there not to be, and I’ve still not been able to get a copy of one for that game.
But I did get a programme today, it’s not bad, more advert heavy than I’d like, but it has four pages on us, and two pages on players to play for both clubs including four of the ones I mentioned earlier.
And speaking of programmes, there was a meeting earlier in the week between a few fans with a view to getting a fan produced match programme up and running later in the season.
It’s back to the 1991-92 Proset for a Shrewsbury Town football card, their only player featured that season was Tom Lynch.
I am beginning to question my sanity in making these trips there and back in a day with over four hours each way, it was dark when I left home and got to Crawley station.
And of course it wouldn’t be a train journey in the UK without dodgy trains and connections. This is not what you want to see when at Euston, and then to get on a slightly later and slower train, it then has an announcement that lines are busy, extra stations are added, and it may run slower than advertised. Connection at the hell spot that is Birmingham New Street will be missed, so not sure what time anyone will be making it to Shrewsbury.
When I came to the game last year we stayed for the weekend and saw Goldie Lookin’ Chain on the Friday night. This time around it was decorating on Friday and train there and back in the same day. I know which one I preferred. It’s the fourth time in the last few years I’ve been to Shrewsbury, and we’ve stayed in the same place every time, and gone back and forth into the town centre, but despite passing it lots of times, I never stopped the car to get a picture of the column to General Rowland Hill, the second tallest Doric column in the world. And with the delays I thought it wasn’t going to happen this time either. But I scuttled there as quickly as my legs would carry me, only to find the bloody thing is under scaffolding. FFS.
But I was at the ground nice and early, I was pretty much the first person everywhere, in the club portacabin shop, no wooden magnets here, just left over stock from previous years at a bargain price of seventy-five pence.
And definitely first in the stands.
I hate that there is no paper ticket. I don’t like the depressing trend of having everything on your phone. You can lose your phone; it can run out of power or just stop working and then you are fucked. There was no choice with the Shrewsbury ticket, I had to download it onto my phone, only for the unmanned entrance gate to refuse to read the fucking QR code. Had to find a real-life person to let me in.
We are in out all white kit with the red trim, whilst Shrewsbury are in blue shirts with yellow sleeves, yellow shorts, and blue socks.
It is a slow start, lots of sideways passing, but Harry McKirdy loses the ball in midfield, and commits a foul, and moans about the decision and nudges the ball away and earns himself a talking to from the referee. The free kick comes to nothing.
A long ball sees the Shrewsbury number nine in behind Dion Conroy, he plays it back to the edge of the area and a shot is well saved by JoJo Wollacott. There is a lot of fannying about at the back as usual and we almost play ourselves into trouble a couple of times and then give a sloppy corner away. It is taken long, headed clear and there are two shots from Shrewsbury blocked on the edge of the area before we clear it.
Wollacott is down injured and needing treatment on the edge of the area, which is never a good sign as, per usual, we don’t have a keeper on the bench of only six substitutes.
Finally we have an attack with a shot at the end of it. Josh Flint gets the ball after a bit of head tennis on the edge of the Shrewsbury box, and his shot takes a deflection and goes out for a corner. That is taken short to the near side of the box and McKirdy has a shot blocked and then cleared. It’s put back in, but the whistle goes and McKirdy is getting another talking to from the ref for something.
At the back a clearance from Charlie Barker is closed down and Shrewsbury ger a cross in, Conroy gets a foot on it as it comes across and force Wollacott to make a decent save to prevent an own goal, it gets played back to the edge of the box and a shot goes well wide.
There are a couple of decent runs down the right from Dion Pereira, where he is beating men and then cutting inside to try and work room for a shot or a cross. I do wonder if it would be an idea for him to switch wings occasionally and beat people on the outside and get a cross in on his favoured left foot.
A nice ball over the top from Flint finds Harry Forster and he puts in a first time cross; it is flicked on by Kabby Tshimanga to McKirdy and his shot drifts wide. Just after McKirdy picks up a booking in midfield for (apparently) a dive. There looked to be contact, but the booking has been coming for him.
Again we have lots of possession, but a ball is cut out in the Shrewsbury half, and they break quickly, and a block tackle from Barker goes for a corner, it goes all the way across the box, with a slight touch on and runs out for a throw on the other side.
We have an attack through the middle, Tshimanga turns his man and lays it across to Ryan Loft, he puts it back over and McKirdy slots home. The celebrations start but the linesman has the flag up for offside. Conroy is down injured in the centre circle. From the restart we win a free kick and there is a yellow card for a Shrewsbury player, which again looked to be for something said rather than the challenge. We get the ball into the box and there are claims for a handball, Loft has a shot, but it is straight at the keeper.
A ball down the right to Pereira sees him cross the ball in, it comes out to Max Anderson, and his shot takes a deflection for a corner. The ref blows for a foul with the ball in the air before it even gets into the middle. (How many times is that so far this season?)
Flint picks up a booking for a challenge on the wing, which looks a bit harsh as he got his toe to the ball first. The free kick is deep; it’s cleared and then put back in and Wollacott collects. There are five added minutes, where not a lot happens, and the half time whistle goes with the score 0-0.
Into the second half and Shrewsbury fans are baying for a penalty almost straight from the kick off. At the other end we have a long throw, it is half cleared, and Pereira puts it back in, but it goes straight to the keeper. There is a lot of battling in midfield and a ball falls to Loft who has a crack but it is easily saved. A good turn from Anderson and his ball falls to Tshimanga in the box, he beats a man but goes wide and his cross / shot goes straight to the keeper.
We lose the ball in midfield and Shrewsbury break and have a shot which deflected just wide for a corner. It comes in and is flicked on, and the offside flag goes up. A long ball up the left see Loft fouled about thirty-five yards out. It comes to the back post and Flint puts it back across and Barker’s shot is blocked. We have a long throw, flicked on by Flint and punched clear back to Barker who heads it back in and Tshimanga has a shot which is blocked and then cleared. Another ball from Loft finds Tshimanga in the box and again he goes a bit wide before the shot, and it hits the side netting.
A couple of minutes before the usual scheduled time and we make a couple of subs with Pereira and Gavan Holohan coming off to be replaced by Louie Watson and Geraldo Bajrami. A ball is cleared down the right and there is a coming together after it and off the pitch involving McKirdy, he picks up a second yellow and the red. It was given by the lino on the other side of the pitch as the ref certainly didn’t see it. We sub Forster off and replace him with Danny Cashman who is returning from injury. There are twenty-five minutes to survive.
Anderson gets a booking for a coming together in midfield. The ball wasn’t even in play, and the Shrewsbury player has gone down like an extra from Platoon. There is a long stoppage for an injury to a Shrewsbury player, and they aren’t even on the pitch. We make another sub; this time Tshimanga goes off and is replaced by Jack Roles.
Shrewsbury are attacking, they have a long throw, it is headed back across the box and put behind for a corner. It’s taken long and half cleared, and the attempt to put it back in sails high into the stand behind the goal. A Shrewsbury player picks up a yellow card for going straight through Flint as he tries to play the ball out from the back.
The extra man is beginning to tell, we are struggling to keep hold of the ball and struggling to get out of our own half, and we concede a corner. I’d no sooner written that in my notebook, and the ball comes in and is headed in from the middle of the six-yard box, and we trail 0-1.
From the back we work the ball into midfield and then across to the left and manage to win a corner. It is half cleared, put back in and we win another. Again half cleared, it’s put back in and goes out for a throw, Flint hurls it in, and it is headed behind for a corner. That is flapped away for a throw on the other side, that is cleared and comes back on the left and Roles is tripped twenty-five yards out.
There are seven added minutes, the free kick was put out for a throw, it is taken long but there is a foul and Shrewsbury get a free kick, they play it long down the right and win a corner. On our next attack Shrewsbury clear and a player is down claiming a head injury. The ref stops play and the physio comes on and treats his leg. Conroy picks up a booking for something said to the ref.
At the other end there is a yellow for a Shrewsbury player for preventing a free kick being taken. It is taken deep, half cleared and put back in, Loft nods it down and Roles has a shot which is just tipped over the bar as it headed into the top corner. As it comes in the ref blows for a foul.
The final whistle goes and we have lost. 0-1. Again. The crowd was announced as being 4,763, with 166 Crawley fans, most of whom were in fine voice all afternoon.
The loss sees us slip into the relegation places. In the game between the bottom two, Cheltenham beat Newport to move above us, and to add salt to the wound, the two teams directly above us at start of play – Accrington and Tranmere, both won and scored four. It was a shit day.
I know a lot of his play can be a bit scrappy, but perhaps we should consider putting Jack Roles up front, he seems to be the only person not scared of taking a shot, and he does get more than his fair share on target, we won’t win by trying to walk the fucking ball in, and we couldn’t do any worse.
Post game it was a rush to get back in time for my booked train. Five added minutes in the first half and then playing ten added in the second meant we finished after five, my train was just before six, and Giggle maps said it was a fifty-two-minute walk. But gimpy-limpy Kev managed to make it in thirty-seven, even being able to stop and take a photo of the very nice Indian restaurant I wished I had time to stop and get some food at.
It’s dark before I’ve finished the first leg of the journey and finished typing this up. It’s a long day and it feels longer as the hope gets sapped more and more with each game. And the second leg of the journey sees the incompetent fucks at Avanti north west cancel the train to London, their second cancellation of the day, and it may well be tomorrow before I get home now.
Quiz Time – Shrewsbury Town are one of three English sides in League Two this season who have won the Welsh Cup, name the other two.
Next up it is the third and final of the other teams relegated with us from League One last season as we entertain Bristol Rovers at the Broadfield next Saturday. I’m tired of typing the next sentence, but it is a must win game.
Come on you reds.