Post by Mark on Sept 15, 2006 10:48:36 GMT
Good afternoon and welcome back to the Meadow for this afternoon’s fixture against Lincoln City and the return of former Town striker Mark Stallard. It’s fair to say that Mark did not have the best of starts to his Town career but his battling performances won the majority of Town fans over and we wish him every success, no goals today though please Mark!
Having missed out on the local derby against Wrexham due to the International matches Town will be looking to bounce back from the very disappointing showing in their last outing at Bristol Rovers. Bristol is becoming a bogie team for us; we seem to always slip up at the Memorial Stadium in one way or another! Over the years we have lost in the heavy rain a fortnight ago, nursed hangovers on New Years day and even missed half of a game when the coach got stuck on the Motorway and Shrews fan ‘Afro’ rang Jimmy Quinn to see if the game would be delayed!
I can’t really put my finger on what went wrong for us there, the usual reliable members of the team had off days. Edwards looked tired, Sagi made a few mistakes and it was not until the introduction of Cooke and Drummond that we started to show some strength and look as if we may get something from the game. People may say that the players were tired from the intensity of the Birmingham game, but if we are going to be a success this season then we must be able to play two matches in a week at high tempos.
Whilst talking of the Birmingham game the support that night was absolutely tremendous, packing out the away end and singing all the way through the game. Even when Brum finally scored there was no silencing the Town fans, a credit to the club. It’s a shame that some of the Blues fan did not take a leaf out of our book. As I looked to my left I saw young kids shouting and swearing and offering grown men ‘out’, to my surprise when I looked again their dads were joining in with them! At least the stewards that night had things under control, apart from seating allocation that is! I think Town could learn a lesson from that cup tie for when we move to the New Meadow. All the tickets had a row and seat number and said ‘please sit in your allocated seat’ however some people had not followed this advice and naturally there were people who had to be moved from seat to seat!
Our seat was fantastic as we got it through the Birmingham ticket office (cheers Dan!) and what a performance the team gave.
I have been long an admirer of Chris Mackenzie and after a few initial mistakes by number one Ryan Esson I have been calling for Chris to be given a chance. The Brum game just proved what a class goalkeeper he is, pulling off a number of tremendous saves. It was such a shame that the Blues had to score near the end but he still topped the MOTM poll with ease. It certainly shows that Ryan will have to be kept on his toes or Chris will be given his chance in the first team.
All in all we have to be happy with the start to the season. We have a number of new faces who have bedded in well to the team and we have shown glimpses of what we are capable of. Stuart Drummond has added a different dimension to the midfield, Ben Davies is the creative talent we have been crying out for since the departure of Ben Smith, and in ‘Dellboy’ we have a striker with real pace that we have not had since Luke Rodgers was in prime form.
We need to keep our unbeaten home record going today which will shift us back nearer the summit, as they say win your home games and nick something away and you will be there or there abouts come May!
Enjoy the game,
Up the Town!
Mark Fielden
www.themightyshrew.co.uk
Having missed out on the local derby against Wrexham due to the International matches Town will be looking to bounce back from the very disappointing showing in their last outing at Bristol Rovers. Bristol is becoming a bogie team for us; we seem to always slip up at the Memorial Stadium in one way or another! Over the years we have lost in the heavy rain a fortnight ago, nursed hangovers on New Years day and even missed half of a game when the coach got stuck on the Motorway and Shrews fan ‘Afro’ rang Jimmy Quinn to see if the game would be delayed!
I can’t really put my finger on what went wrong for us there, the usual reliable members of the team had off days. Edwards looked tired, Sagi made a few mistakes and it was not until the introduction of Cooke and Drummond that we started to show some strength and look as if we may get something from the game. People may say that the players were tired from the intensity of the Birmingham game, but if we are going to be a success this season then we must be able to play two matches in a week at high tempos.
Whilst talking of the Birmingham game the support that night was absolutely tremendous, packing out the away end and singing all the way through the game. Even when Brum finally scored there was no silencing the Town fans, a credit to the club. It’s a shame that some of the Blues fan did not take a leaf out of our book. As I looked to my left I saw young kids shouting and swearing and offering grown men ‘out’, to my surprise when I looked again their dads were joining in with them! At least the stewards that night had things under control, apart from seating allocation that is! I think Town could learn a lesson from that cup tie for when we move to the New Meadow. All the tickets had a row and seat number and said ‘please sit in your allocated seat’ however some people had not followed this advice and naturally there were people who had to be moved from seat to seat!
Our seat was fantastic as we got it through the Birmingham ticket office (cheers Dan!) and what a performance the team gave.
I have been long an admirer of Chris Mackenzie and after a few initial mistakes by number one Ryan Esson I have been calling for Chris to be given a chance. The Brum game just proved what a class goalkeeper he is, pulling off a number of tremendous saves. It was such a shame that the Blues had to score near the end but he still topped the MOTM poll with ease. It certainly shows that Ryan will have to be kept on his toes or Chris will be given his chance in the first team.
All in all we have to be happy with the start to the season. We have a number of new faces who have bedded in well to the team and we have shown glimpses of what we are capable of. Stuart Drummond has added a different dimension to the midfield, Ben Davies is the creative talent we have been crying out for since the departure of Ben Smith, and in ‘Dellboy’ we have a striker with real pace that we have not had since Luke Rodgers was in prime form.
We need to keep our unbeaten home record going today which will shift us back nearer the summit, as they say win your home games and nick something away and you will be there or there abouts come May!
Enjoy the game,
Up the Town!
Mark Fielden
www.themightyshrew.co.uk