A team at the top on an unbeaten run against a team near the bottom that had been hammered 5-1 at the weekend. U’s were odds on favourites, Speaking to some Shrewsbury fans before the match they decided they were mental to bother coming to the game, and that we would score 6! 126 away fans made the journey in a crowd of 5347.
Starting line up:
Eastwood in goal, a back 3 of Gibbons, Watts and Jobe. Bennett, Mpanzu, Hoddle Knight, Brophy in the middle, Kaikai behind Appere.
As usual I missed the opening minutes, and apparently Shrewsbury made a half chance to shoot but didn’t, and Kaikai had a shot saved when put through on goal.
U’s kept the ball and made some half chances, a mazy run by knight ended with a shot at their keeper, Mpanzu and Appere also tried but had shots easily saved or just wide.
The first half had moments of great play followed by wasted opportunities. Twice Bennett got into space on our right for a cross which went high and out. Gibbons let the ball run under his foot and out with no-one near. Miss-placed passes seemed the order of the day.
As you would expect Shrewsbury decided that a point would be good, so seemed to be playing a 9-1-0 formation, content to let U’s play the ball from side to side at the back, then surround whoever had the ball as we got close to the final third. Their main tactic was the long ball, and they did manage to win a corner in the first half, something I think we failed to do in the first half despite all the possession. I suppose we were better off than on Saturday where we had conceded a goal!
Half time 0-0. 50/50 ticket #01781 won £461
Two changes for the second half, Purrington and Ball came on for Bennett and Hoddle in like for like changes.
Appere had a good chance when the ball was pulled back but his shot blocked for a corner, then Shrewsbury had a shot go well wide after a corner was cleared. Knight got set up for a shot from the edge of the area but straight to the keeper.
Lavery and Nevitt came on for Brophy and Appere on 61 minutes, McLoughlin replaced Mpanzu on 73.
Just as the board was about to show 5 minutes of added time Purrington had a chance to cross from the byeline, the ball hit the outstretched arm of a defender and the referee awarded the penalty. After a few minutes of arguing by Shrewsbury players the kick was taken by Knight and he scored putting the ball down the middle as the keeper dived right. 1-0.
After all the timewasting Shrewsbury threw everyone forward, and in the 97 minute won a free kick a few yards outside our penalty area. It looked a dangerous position, but they didn’t have a Kaikai and the ball went over the bar by a yard.
Final score: 1-0.
We didn’t play particularly well, I thought we were too slow moving the ball from one side to the other, and didn’t vary play enough. Any high balls were easily dealt with by their defenders, Appere not getting a sniff! Knight was about the only player to run at their defenders. He could often get past 1 or 2, but then 3, 4, 5 surrounded him! Lavery’s running off the ball helped create a bit of space for others. Brophy, Mpanzu and Hoddle didn’t have great games, the defence didn’t have much defending to do!
The stats show we had 65% possession and10 shots, with 7 on target to their 2 and 0. Shrewsbury will claim they were robbed of a point, and their defensive performance was pretty good especially after their result at the weekend. And for those who remember last season we were pretty good at conceding late goals, and at times there was a worry that a silly mistake could cost us points.
There was one occasion when a Shrewsbury long ball into the channel almost cost us, Eastwood came out to clear but the ball hit Jobe I think before being cleared at the second attempt. Last season the ball would have fallen nicely for the forward to stroke into the empty net!
Abigail Byrne was the referee, and overall she did a pretty good job.
The unbeaten run continues, and we move to 3rd in L2. We now have 3 away games: Oldham (16th), Harrogate (24th) and Crawley (20th). Am I being greedy to expect 7 points? The unbeaten run will end at some time, please don’t let it be against the bottom team!
Up the U’s.