Analysis: Not pretty from Shrewsbury – but precious points are all that matter
It wasn’t pretty, but sometimes it doesn’t matter how you win. Right now, it’s points over performances for Shrewsbury Town.
What Salop lacked in entertainment on Saturday they made up for in effort, making sure they came out on top and bouncing back from a 3-0 defeat to Exeter City, writes Luke Powell.
Daniel Udoh supplied the only goal as Town edged closer to League One safety and moved to nine points clear of the relegation zone. The forward’s 40th-minute strike came from nowhere, with the most exciting moment up to that point being when the match ball was delivered by a helicopter from RAF Shawbury 10 minutes prior to kick-off.
Shrewsbury Town hosted their 10th Armed Forces Day as hundreds of servicemen and women attended the game. And there was much to celebrate at the match’s conclusion with Town boss Paul Hurst claiming his first home victory since taking the reins.
It was an extremely quiet first period of the game where the referee gained the most cheers, and jeers, from supporters. Early into proceedings, Simon Mather yellow-carded Taylor Perry harshly for obstruction at an attempted quickly-taken free-kick to the delight of Carlisle fans.
Town were up against it from the first minute as Tom Flanagan headed a Carlisle corner away to safety – in what became a common theme. Flanagan was preferred to Jason Sraha in Shrewsbury’s starting XI, while Aiden O’Brien replaced the suspended Jordan Shipley.
