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Home , Arthur Rowley, EFL Trophy, Gary Peters (footballer), Gay Meadow, Graham Turner, HM Prison Shrewsbury

Date: 26.01.2019

Ground: Revisit

Match: 22 (2018/2019 season)

Venue: Montgomery Waters Meadow

Teams: Town V Wanderers

Competition: FA Cup 4th Round

Admission: £20

Final Score: 2-2 ( H/T 0-0 )

Referee: Roger East

Attendance: 9503

Mileage to venue and return: 38.6

Programme: £3

Introduction

The first game of football that I ever attended was on 18th April 1987, aged six years old. I to the The that day, the former home of Shrewsbury Town and watched them beat Stoke City 4-1 in front of a crowd of 6,777. My Uncle (Tim Thomas) took to me the game, Tim has supported Shrewsbury Town for over a period of 65 years and is still keen as ever.

This was my third visit to the Montgomery Waters Meadow, home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club. My first visit came on 5th April 2016 where I watched the Senior Cup Final between Shrewsbury Town and AFC United. The match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes with Shrewsbury winning the penalty shootout 3-2 to lift the trophy. My second visit came on 2nd May 2017 where I watched the Shropshire Premier Cup Final between Shawbury United and Market Drayton Town, the winners that day were Market Drayton by one goal to nil.

My nephew Jimmy joined me for the game, this was his second taste of groundhopping within a month after he came with me to watch Carno 0-3 Caersws on 29th December 2018. I also attended the game with my father-in-law Dave and two brother-in-law’s Damian and Jamie, Damian’s son (my nephew) Billy also came to watch.

Jimmy and I arrived at the ground at 1:15pm and a good walk around the exterior of the stadium after picking up our matchday programmes. We also had a look in the club shop where Jimmy bought himself a Shrewsbury town eraser for 75 pence.

I will talk more of the day and the game during this report – on Friday after I finished work, I had a lovely walk around Shrewsbury and took some picture of the County town to use in this report. The next section of this report is about the town of Shrewsbury.

SHREWSBURY

Shrewsbury is the County town of England’s biggest inland County, Shropshire. This beautiful market town is on the banks of the and following the 2011 Census, Shrewsbury was recorded as having a population of 71,715 inhabitants.

The town is situated only 9 miles east of the Welsh border and is the commercial centre of both Shropshire and Mid-Wales. Shrewsbury is also 14 miles west of the town of Telford and 43 miles west of Birmingham.

Shrewsbury was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys, at the time the area was known by the ancient Britons as Pengwern. In Old English, the area was known as Scobbesburh possibly meaning “Scrobbs Fort”. The name eventually evolved into three formats, namely Sciropscire (Shropshire) into Sloppesberie (becoming Salop/Salopia – used as an alternative name for both the town and County and into Schrosberie which is where the name Shrewsbury is derived from. In Welsh, Shrewsbury is known as Amwythig which means “fortified place”.

Over the years, because of its geographical position, Shrewsbury has been the site of many conflicts and battles. The Angles who were ruled under King Offa of Mercia (Reigned 757-796) took possession of the town in 778.

Not far from the County town is the village of Wroxeter, Wroxeter was once the site of Viroconium which at its peak was the fourth biggest cantonal capital throughout the whole of Roman Britain.

The Site of Wroxeter Roman City

Actual recorded history of Shrewsbury begins in the middle ages when it was founded in circa 800AD. It is suggested Shrewsbury during Anglo-Saxon times was most likely a settlement which was defended using earthworks which comprised of a ditch and rampart, secured with a wooden stockade. Roger de Montgomery was handed the town from William the Conqueror as a gift and duly constructed in 1074, subsequently Roger de Montgomery took the title of Earl and later founded in 1083. The 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, Robert of Belleme an Anglo-Norman nobleman, was deposed in 1102 which meant the title was fortified. In 1138 King Stephen was successful in taking the Castle which was then held by William FitzAlan, the Castle was then handed to the Empress Maud during the time of the England and Normandy Civil War.

The site of Shrewsbury Castle as it is today

During the 14th and 15th centuries, Shrewsbury was at a peak of commercial importance, mainly down to the production of Wool, at the time the River Severn and Watling Street acted as the main routes of trade. Despite this success, the town was not spared from the effects of the Black Death. The plague reportedly arrived in Shrewsbury during the spring of 1349 and with devastating consequences.

The year of 1403 saw the Battle of Shrewsbury, the fighting took place to the North of the town centre at Battlefield. The conflict was between King Henry IV and Henry Hotspur Percy, the King eventually won the battle. This event was even celebrated in William Shakespeare’s production – Henry IV Part 1, Act 5.

Following the suppression of the monasteries, Shrewsbury Abbey was shut in 1540, following this Historians believe that Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury a cathedral city after the founding of the Church of England. The town’s inhabitants declined the King’s offer of this transformation.

During the English Civil War (1642-1651) Shrewsbury was a Royalist stronghold and only succumbed to Parliament forces when they were let into the town via St Mary’s Water Gate (now known as Traitors gate) by a Parliamentarian sympathiser. General Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury during February 1645. By the 18th century, the County town had become a notable and important market town as well as a stop off for stagecoaches making their way between and Holyhead and onto Ireland.

Robert Clive also known as Clive of India was a local soldier and statesman, he was the town’s Member of Parliament from 1762 until his death in 1774. Robert Clive also served once as the mayor of Shrewsbury.

Directly following Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo on 18th June 1815, Shrewsbury’s own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was ordered to guard him during his exile in St Helena. A small locket which contains a lock of Napoleon’s hair remains to this day in the collections of the Shropshire Regimental Museum based at Shrewsbury Castle.

Fortunately, Shrewsbury suffered very little with regards to bombing raids during the Second World War. The severest occurrence of bombing in the town came in 1940, a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on the Ellesmere Road in the town – these were the only local deaths due to bombing during the conflict.

From the latter part of 1990’s Shrewsbury has been the victim to terrible flooding problems from the River Severn and Rea Brook. The year of 2000 was particularly severe, large areas of the town were underwater, the Frankwell area was flooded three times in only six weeks. Flood defences have since been installed and although further flooding has been suffered, it has not been as severe as in 2000.

Until 2013 Shrewsbury had a prison in the town but following a report written in 2005 it was recorded that HM Prison Shrewsbury (Also known as the Dana) was the most over populated prison in England and Wales. Following its closure in 2013, the site was sold onto private property developers in 2014.

Shrewsbury is an historic town and still retains its medieval patterned streets as well as numerous narrow passages. Many of the street names in the town have also remained unchanged for centuries – some of the more unusual names are: Grope Lane, Bear Steps and Dogpole.

One of the many narrow passages in Shrewsbury Right in the centre of town lies the Quarry – the Quarry is a beautiful 29-acre riverside park that holds a variety of events throughout the year. Probably the most famous of these events is the Shrewsbury Flower Show which was first held in 1857. The show was recognised in 2005 by the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s longest running flower show.

The Quarry Park where the Shrewsbury Flower Show has been held for many years.

Shrewsbury is almost entirely surrounded by the River Severn, because of this there are a total of nine bridges going across the river and many more that cross the Rea Brook.

Picture of the River Severn taken from , to the right of the picture is the former site of Shrewsbury Town’s former ground – The Gay Meadow.

English Bridge

As well as the Shrewsbury Abbey there are many more churches situated in the town, some of these include – The Shrewsbury Greek Orthodox Church, The Roman Catholic and St Chad’s Church.

St Chad’s Church is probably my favourite building in Shrewsbury – the current building was constructed in 1792 and is a well known and loved landmark in the county town. It faces the Quarry Park and is a Grade II listed building.

The present building replaced a church of earlier design dating back to the 13th century. The original building was destroyed in 1788 when the central tower collapsed.

The Scottish architect George Steuart was the man put in charge of rebuilding a new church with the foundation stone being laid on St Chad’s day on 2nd March 1790 – the newly constructed building was officially opened on 19th August 1792.

A picture of this beautiful church is shown on the following page.

There have been severable notable Salopians over the centuries but probably the most famous Salopian of them all is the biologist and evolutionary theorist – Charles Darwin. Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12th February 1809 at The Mount in Shrewsbury. He was educated at The Anglican and went onto further education at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, before attending Christ’s College in Cambridge where he stayed until 1831. During his many travels overseas, Darwin developed his evolutionary theory, Darwin died on 19th April 1882 at Down House, Downe, Kent.

A statue of Charles Darwin situated in front of the Another famous Salopian was the novelist and poet Mary Gladys Webb who was born in the Shropshire village of Leighton in 1881. The village of Leighton is situated eight miles southeast of Shrewsbury. Mary Webb’s work is set predominately in Shropshire and her novels have successfully been put into film, most notably the film Gone to Earth in 1950. Mary Webb settled with her family in on the outskirts of Shrewsbury in 1902 and married at Meole Brace’s Holy Trinity Parish Church in 1912. Mary Webb died on 8th October 1927 at St Leonards on Sea aged 46 after suffering from poor health for a period of time.

There is a statue of Mary Webb dedicated to her in the grounds of the Shrewsbury library.

Some People with a connection to Shrewsbury and with a connection to the world of football are named as follows:

John Hawley Edwards (21ST March 1850 – 14th January 1893) was born in Shrewsbury and educated at Shifnal Grammar School, Shropshire. Edwards first played for Shropshire Wanderers and the London based club, Wanderers. It was with Wanderers that he won an FA Cup Final winners medal in 1876. Edwards also made one appearance for England as well as one appearance for Wales.

Henry Wace (21st September 1853 – 5th November 1947) born in Shrewsbury and educated at Shrewsbury School before joining St John’s College at Cambridge University. Wace played football for the Cambridge University team as well as playing for Wanderers, Clapham Rovers and Shropshire Wanderers. Wace won two FA Cup winners medals with Wanderers in 1877 and again in 1878 also winning three England international caps during his career. John George Wylie (5th October 1854 – 30th July 1924) born in Shrewsbury, Wylie appeared for Shropshire Wanderers, and Wanderers. Like the two previously mentioned players he also won an FA Cup Final Winners medal with Wanderers, playing in the 1878 final. Wylie played as a forward and won his solitary England Cap in 1878.

David Edwards (born 3rd February 1986) Edwards was born in Pontesbury, Shropshire and began his club career with Shrewsbury Town making over 100 appearances. He then moved onto Luton Town before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers, winning the Championship with the Molineux based club in 2009 and League One in 2013. Edwards played 307 games for Wolves scoring 44 goals in the process before being transferred to Reading and then moving back to Shrewsbury Town in 2019. Dave Edwards has enjoyed a successful international career, capped on 9 occasions for Wales U-21 and winning 43 full international caps.

Steven Fletcher (born 26th March 1987) was born in Shrewsbury and has gone onto play for several teams as follows: Hibernian, Burnley, Wolves, Sunderland, Marseille and is currently playing for Sheffield Wednesday in the second tier of English football. Fletcher has won international caps for Scotland at U-20 and U-21 level, one cap for the Scotland ‘B’ team and 32 full international caps.

Joe Hart (born 19th April 1987) Charles Joseph John Hart was born in Shrewsbury and was educated at Oxon Primary School followed by in Shrewsbury. As well as being a good goalkeeper at school he was also a competent cricketer and had a brief spell playing for Shrewsbury CC in the Birmingham and District . Hart went down the path of football and while still a 15-year old schoolboy, travelled with the Shrewsbury Town first team squad to Exeter City on 1st February 2003 where he was an unused substitute. went onto make over 54 appearances for the club before being transferred to Manchester City in 2006. Hart made over 260 appearances for Manchester City and was part of City team who won the Premier League in 2011/2012 and again in 2013/2014. He also has a FA Cup Final winners medal from the club’s victory in the 2010/2011 final and two Football winners medal from City’s triumph’s in 2013/2014 and 2015/2016. Hart has also played for Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool, Birmingham City, Torino, West Ham United and currently plays for Burnley. Hart has also won 75 full England International caps as well as winning caps for the U-19 and U-21 teams. SHREWSBURY TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB

The club was founded in 1886 following the expiration of first, Shropshire Wanderers and latterly but indirectly of Castle Blues. There are differences of opinion as to what date the new club was founded on. The Shropshire Journal on 26th May 1886 published that the club had been formed at the Lion Hotel situated on the Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury. However, The Shrewsbury Chronicle reported the club’s new beginning was formed at the Turf Hotel, Claremont Hill, Shrewsbury. Historians suggest that both accounts are true in nature with a formal meeting being held at The Turf to rubber stamp the foundation of Shrewsbury Town Football Club.

The club played friendly and regional cup matches during their fledgling years, Shrewsbury Town then became amongst the founder members of the Shropshire and District League in season 1890/91. They were then later admitted into the Birmingham and District League for season 1895/96. Some of the teams that the club faced in the Birmingham League included – Alexandra, Coventry City, Stoke City, Kidderminster Harriers and Stafford Rangers.

During the first 20 years or so, Shrewsbury Town played their home fixtures at several locations across the town, in 1910 the club made plans to look into moving too a new ground. The decision was made, and the club eventually moved to Gay Meadow just a stone’s throw away from the Abbey, the club stayed at the Gay Meadow for a period of 97 years.

The club became champions of the Birmingham League in season 1922/23, this followed several seasons of mid table finishes in the league.

In 1937/38 season Shrewsbury Town moved into the Midlands Champions League, this was a very successful season for the Shrews, winning a league and other cup competitions. In winning the league they amassed an amazing 111 goals, cup triumphs came in – The and the Shropshire Senior Cup.

Post-War, the club enjoyed several good seasons before being admitted to the old Division 3 North of the football league in 1950.

A first ever promotion to the Third Division was achieved by the club in the 1958/59 season, this is where they remained for the following 15 years before suffering relegation back too Division 4 at the conclusion of the 1973/74 season.

The 1960/61 season will always be remembered by Town supporters for the club’s great run too the Semi-Finals of the League Cup. The Shrews beat Everton in the quarter finals and lost over two legs on aggregate by 4 goals to 3 against Rotherham United. This period will also be remembered for . Arthur Rowley moved too Shrewsbury Town from Leicester City in 1958 and became the club’s first player/manager. During his distinguished career he broke the great ’s goal- scoring record, scoring the 380th goal of his career against Bradford City on 29th April 1961 during a match played at Bradford’s Valley Parade. Arthur Rowley retired from playing football in 1965 but remined as Shrewsbury’s manager for a further three years.

The club were promoted to the third division in 1974/75 as runners-up. Another successful season followed in 1978/79 – Town won the third division in a season that started under the reigns of Ritchie Barker and later in the season, . A crowd of over 14,000 supporters saw the club clinch promotion at Gay Meadow by beating Exeter City 4-1 on 17th May 1979. That same season the club also reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, defeated by Wolverhampton Wanderers in a replay.

Graham Turner is the club’s most successful manager in their history. Following the club’s promotion to England’s second tier in 1979, they remained there for a further ten years. Under Turner they enjoyed another good FA Cup run in the 1981/82 season by reaching 5th round and defeating then UEFA Cup holders Ipswich Town in round four.

During there stay in Division Two in the eighties the club had many good players who were then sold on for a substantial fee. Some of these players included the likes of Steve Ogrizovic, , John McGinlay and Bernard McNally. The Shrews were relegated back to division three at the end of the 1988/89 season. A further relegation was followed in 1991/92 season meaning the club were now to play in Division four for the first time since 1975.

The fourth tier of English football changed its name to Division three and under the management of Fred Davies the club returned to the third tier by securing promotion in the 1993/94 season. They remained in the third tier for three seasons before being relegated to the fourth tier at the end of the 1996/97 season. The 1990’s also saw Shrewsbury Town make their first ever appearance at . In 1996 they reached the final of the Football League Trophy and lost 2-1 to Rotherham in the Wembley final.

Fred Davies was sacked as the club’s manager following their relegation back to the fourth tier at the end of 1996/97 season. Former player Jake King was named as the club’s new man in charge. Unfortunately for King his reign as manager was not a successful one and he was sacked in the November of 1999/2000 season. The former Everton skipper and Welsh international was given the job as manager and helped save the club from relegation to the Conference with a final game of the season victory by 2 goals to 1 at Exeter City.

The 2002/2003 season saw the club go on one of their famous FA Cup runs – in the first round they beat Stafford Rangers and followed that with a second-round win against another non-league club, Barrow. They were rewarded with a home tie against Everton in the third round and in front of a crowd of 7,800 packed into Gay Meadow they beat the Premier League side 2-1 with a brace from Nigel Jemson. They were drawn at home yet again in the following round, this time against Chelsea. This is where their cup run ended as a Chelsea side that included that day beat the Town 4-0. The league campaign that season was somewhat difficult for Shrewsbury and it ended with the club being relegated from the football league for the first time in their history. Kevin Ratcliffe resigned from his position and was replaced by former Northern Ireland international striker Jimmy Quinn in time for the start of the club’s first season in the conference. Quinn guided the club to a 3rd place finish securing a spot in the end of season play-off’s. Shrewsbury beat Barnet in the semi-final and setup a final against Aldershot to played at the Britannia Stadium home of Stoke City. The game finished 1-1 with the Shrews winning the subsequent penalty shootout to secure a swift return to the football league.

Jimmy Quinn only lasted 14 games in charge following the club’s return to league football and was replaced by . In 2006 the plans of a change of stadium saw much progress with the club eventually moving into their new home – The in time for the start of the 2007/2008 campaign.

Gary Peters left Shrewsbury Town in March 2008 and was replaced by Paul Simpson. The 2008/2009 season saw the club reach the play-offs, in the semi-final they beat Bury but unfortunately lost the final against Gillingham at Wembley Stadium.

The successful manager of the eighties, Graham Turner made a return as the club’s manager in June 2010. In the 2011/2012 season they finished in 2nd place in the league and secured promotion to League One ( third tier ) for the first time in fifteen years. The club survived in their first season back in the third tier by finishing in a respectable 16th position. The following season was a difficult one, Graham Turner quit in January and the club eventually suffered relegation back to League two.

Micky Mellon was named as the club’s new man in charge in May 2014 and guided the Shrews back to League One. Mellon left the club in October 2016 and was replaced by the Town manager . Shrewsbury had a great 2017/2018 season under the guidance of Paul Hurst, a 3rd place finish in the league saw the club reaching the play-off’s beating Charlton in the semi-final before losing at Wembley Stadium too Rotherham United. Shrewsbury played at Wembley twice last season – they reached the final of the EFL Trophy and lost at Wembley Stadium against Lincoln. Paul Hurst left the club at the end of the season and was replaced by . Askey’s reign as manager did not last long and the club are currently managed by the former Welsh international Sam Rickets. THE MONTGOMERY WATERS MEADOW.

This relatively new football stadium as a capacity catering for 9,875 spectators mostly seated but with a area for around 500 spectators. Shrewsbury Town were the first club in England to introduce safe standing at their stadium.

The largest stand at the stadium is the West Stand which can hold just over 3,300 spectators. Directly opposite is the Roland Wycherley stand (Roland Wycherley is the chairman of the club) and this is complete with 2417 seats, this stand also holds the executive boxes.

The home end at The Montgomery Waters Meadow is the Salop Leisure Stand, this is where the safe standing area is situated, the stand is complete with nearly 2000 seats. The away supporters are housed opposite the Salop Leisure Stand, this stand is The North Stand and holds room for 1796 spectators.

On walking up to the ground, you pass an advertising board which notifies people of the forthcoming home game as shown below.

On passing the sign you proceed to walk into the car park, the Roland Wycherley stand is situated directly in front of you, as shown on the following page.

Also, in this area is the ticket office and the Club shop to the right of the picture as you look at it. The club shop is a decent size and holds a good amount of merchandise.

As we arrived at the ground quite early, my nephew ( Jimmy) and I decided to have a walk around the perimeter of the stadium.

From the Roland Wycherley stand we headed to the left and around the corner of the stand, the first thing we saw was the building which houses the headquarters of The Shropshire Football Association as shown below.

From here we walked along the outside of the Salop Leisure Stand and passed the Fan Zone area which was complete with music, a covered canopy, a bar and a snack bar selling burgers, chips, etc.

Onwards we went walking along the back of the West Stand with Jimmy asking what the big green trucks were – he seemed excited when I explained that they belonged to the Television Companies who were filming the game to be screened on highlights shows. We passed the trucks and walked past the away stand and back to where we had started – The Roland Wycherley Stand, taking the following picture.

Dave ( my father-in-law) arrived not long after we had finished our walk so we entered the stadium and took our seats in the Roland Wycherley Stand.

A picture of Jimmy taken soon after we entered the stadium.

As mentioned previously I have visited the Montgomery Waters Meadow twice in the past but this was my first visit for a high profile game. I really like the ground, its quite compact which helps to generate an excellent atmosphere. I also liked the flags and banners placed at the top of the stands and was impressed with the safe standing area and the flags being flown in that area.

I took more pictures from inside the stadium before the game started:

The away section

The West Stand – you can just about see some of the flags and banners that I was talking about.

The Salop Leisure Stand – just look at that fantastic safe standing area – superb!

The Roland Wycherley Stand MATCH STATISTICS

Shrewsbury Town Wolverhampton Wanderers

15 Arnold 21 Ruddy

6 Beckles 5 Bennett

22 Waterfall 16 Coady

5 Sadler 27 Saiss

13 Bolton 2 Docherty

8 Docherty (Amadi-Holloway 90+6) 32 Dendoncker (Jimenez 59)

42 Grant 8 Neves

29 Norburn (Vincelot 87) 17 Gibbs-White (Joao Moutinho 79

3 Haynes 23 Giles (Cavaleiro 72)

28 Laurent 37 Traore

12 Okenabirhie (Whalley 81) 10 Helder Costa

7 Whalley 7 Cavaleiro

9 Angol 9 Jimenez

16 Vincelot 19 Castro Otto

20 Amadi-Holloway 28 Joao Moutinho

21 Eisa 29 Vinagre

27 Sears 31 Norris

30 Charles-Cook 49 Kilman

Goal Log: Docherty, 46 Goal Log: Jimenez, 75

Waterfall, 70 Doherty, 90+3

Attempts: 10 Attempts: 16

On Target: 3 On Target: 5

Corners: 5 Corners: 10

Yellows: 3 Yellows: 0

Reds: 0 Reds: 0

MATCH REPORT

I thoroughly enjoyed this FA Cup match, an even first half was more than watchable with the second half being a pulsating rollercoaster which was played out in all the great traditions of this famous old trophy.

The Wolverhampton Wanderers players going through their pre-match warm up routine.

First Half

Both teams enjoyed decent passages of play during the first period – it was Wolves who created the first real opportunity of the game with a fast break, the ball ended up at he feet of Costa inside the Shrewsbury Penalty area, but he was denied with a great last-ditch challenge by Town’s defender Waterfall.

In the 17th minute another chance came the way of the away team but their promising youngster Gibbs-White shot over from inside the box when perhaps he should have done better.

Shrewsbury were looking dangerous themselves inside the opening 20 minutes and forced a couple of corners following some decent attacking play.

Shrewsbury came close to scoring on 30 minutes – a long throw was cleared from the Wolves penalty area with the ball falling to Beckles who’s, volley went wide of the target.

The home side’s best moment of the half came five minutes before the interval, Greg Docherty let fly with a fierce strike from 25-30 yards from goal which was well saved by Ruddy. Half Time: 0-0

Haynes preparing to take a first half corner for Shrewsbury

Second Half

The second half started in dramatic fashion, a minute after the break - Shrewsbury broke away with pace, Okenabirihie providing a strong run before passing to Docherty on the right, the on-loan Rangers midfielder let fly with an unstoppable shot which went high into the roof of the Wolves net. The home fans erupted with glee to celebrate their team taking the lead.

Wolves almost got back on level terms moments after falling a goal behind, but Neves saw his shot go narrowly wide following a deflection.

Wolves went even closer soon afterwards but were denied by a World class save by Shrewsbury goalkeeper Arnold who denied Costa with an excellent point blank save.

Shrewsbury did not just sit back and defend their lead and were still going forward when ever they could, their positive attitude was making for a fantastic cup tie.

On 71 minutes, Town doubled their advantage – a corner was swung in from Norburn and the ball was headed powerfully into the Wolves net by Waterfall. It was now looking like that a major cup upset was on the cards.

However, Wolves had other ideas – on 75 minutes substitute Jimenez got a goal back for the men from the Molineux, scoring from close range following a cross from the right flank.

Not surprisingly Wolves enjoyed more possession of the ball following their goal but the fantastic work rate from the home side prevented their Premier League opponents time and again. It was looking increasingly likely that the League One side would hold until the end but three minutes into injury time Wolves grabbed a dramatic equalizer. Traore who was a constant threat down the right wing for Wolves in the second half provided a great cross into the danger area, the cross was met by Doherty who headed the ball into the net from ten yards.

The game finished soon after meaning the two teams will do it all again in a replay to played at the Molineux.

Full Time: 2-2

A second half corner for Wolves.

Conclusion

This was a superb FA Cup 4th round tie and an excellent day out at the Montgomery Waters Meadow. My Uncle (mentioned earlier in my report) attended the game, supporting Shrewsbury and I enjoyed talking to him via the telephone the following morning to discuss the match. He was really impressed with his team’s performance, which was pleasing to hear as I thought they put in an excellent performance against a great Wolves team.