Andrew Stephen’s Hot Off The Habbin article for the CUFC v Shrewsbury Town match on 27th January 2026.
“A life fuelled by passion is like riding on the back of a dragon.”
Suzy Kassem
Passion is much more in evidence these days at the Abbey, as the realisation dawns that something special is happening. Before the game against Tranmere, United had gone 11 league games without defeat and fans are now coming to the ground expecting to win and to see our team playing attractively and with skill. Of course nothing in football is ever straightforward and Rovers obviously hadn’t read the script, having the temerity to take the lead twice. Our first half performance was lifeless and uninspired but the second half was something else. Our first goal, scored by Lavery was a thing of beauty. Our fourth, taken by Ben Knight, was in the same class. Meanwhile Kell Watts scored twice, in addition to outwitting away fans with his trademark knee backs to the goalkeeper. Most significantly, we are looking at a team that never gives up and which is beginning to realise its quality. The addition of Elliott Nevitt gives us new options and our bench now looks very strong. Interestingly, of the four teams relegated from League One last season , we are the only team which isn’t struggling. The other three, including Shrewsbury, are positioned just above the drop zone, which means that they are fighting for their lives and desperately reinforcing.
Shrewsbury made the leap to league football twenty years before us. They have also claimed big scalps and tasted relegation to Non-League football. Jimmy Quinn got them re-elected after a year, something he narrowly failed to do for us. I always enjoyed trips to their old ground, Gay Meadow, where a man in a coracle would occasionally rescue footballs hoofed into the Severn by agricultural centre halves. It was a lovely old ground, within sight of the town and of Shrewsbury Abbey but it made financial sense to move out of the town and sell the site for housing. Former goalkeeper Sean Marshall probably shudders at the thought of Gay Meadow, where once he ignored a speculative lob from Nigel Jemson which ended up dipping under the crossbar. Not his finest hour but we all have days like that. The new ground is very welcoming, particularly the lively fanzone, where rival fans meet and enjoy a beer or two. Sadly, like many clubs before them, Shrewsbury have found that having a decent ground is no guarantee of success. Far from it. What matters most is having a competitive team to watch and solid hopes for progression.
Our record against Shrewsbury shows a fairly even smattering of wins, defeats and draws, without too many high scores. One exception came in February 2003 when, frankly, we were in steep decline. John Taylor was our manager and results had not been good, although we still had some very good players, such as Paul Wanless, Luke Guttridge and Andy Duncan. We also had Dave Kitson and Tom Youngs in the side. What players they were. Dave of course played brilliantly for us in the recent Legends Tournament in Germany recently. Sadly we lost Tom last year to illness. He and all our former heroes will never be forgotten here. Personally, I hope that Shrewsbury stay up. However, tonight we need the points which would put us in the automatic promotion spots. I think that once we get there we will stay there. Habbin North Expects!
Andrew Stephen