Shrewsbury Town 0-2 BFC, Saturday 26th October 2024

‘It’s like a curate’s egg.’

This is what it’s all about. Basking in the sun, watching (squinting!) the Reds run riot against inferior opposition. A walk around the glorious environs of Shrewsbury. Good company (and Molly!). Really, it was the perfect day. Maybe this was what Lou Reed was singing about all those years ago. An away trip to Shrewsbury. (Lou would have loved ‘Gay Meadow’!)

This was a dominant Reds performance, up there with Crawley away. Only a cynic would suggest that Shrewsbury and Crawley will be leaving this division downwards before we get promoted, and thank goodness I’m not one of those. Indeed, what kind of person would point out that the Super Reds only win against absolutely dreadful opposition? (5 wins against the bottom 9, 1 win against the top 15, a flukey away win at Lincoln.)

We murdered Shrewsbury, and yet, as half-time loomed, it was goalless. Watters had spurned the best chance, going clean through and miscuing it wide. But, cometh injury time, cometh the man, as Super-dooper party pooper Jonny Russell let’s Connell’s hook back go over his shoulder before swinging a leg and putting it in the top corner. Plattyesque. (Belgium, Italia 90, though Molly disagrees with my hyperbole. But at the very least, a 3rd division version of that Three Lions classic.) The Shrews response is a 25 yarder beaten away by Kilip, in for the dropped Slow Nina.

Second half was more of the same. Late arrivals from half time pints missed it, as Watters cut inside and neatly buried it in the bottom right corner from 12 yards. Quality finish. Then Connell pings a ball to Watters that the latter takes magnificently in his stride and he’s clean through. Not sure he needed the extra touch though, and the keeper saves. DKD misses another chance and, as a Shrews fan said to us later, ‘Youse never get out of 1st gear, did you?’ It was THAT comfortable.

Mind, we still gave them 2 potshots at our goal, which I think may have beaten Kilip had they not smashed into our defenders’ heads (one was certainly Roberts). Jalo came on too, and managed to get himself injured within a minute. I shouldn’t laugh.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Russell. Instrumental in many a move as his touches continually found Reds players going forward. Oh, and he scored. It was like Platty for England in the World Cup. Did I mention it!?
** Connell. The game was won in central midfield, Luca breaking with the ball.
* Roberts. Sound defensively.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Russell 2. Gent 3= Connell/Humphreys/Roberts/Watters

Despatches:
I try not to bury the ref too much, but when he has words with a couple of pairs of jostling players at a corner, then keeps said pair of players right under his eyeballs, and STILL manages to miss one of them completely rugby tackling an attacking player to the ground (Roberts) I despair. For the record, it happened at every corner 1st half (cos it was right in front of us) but the first was the most blatant.

Kilip justified his pick, and it was nice to see POTY Cotter encourage the keeper to lead the fans at the end. MdG brought the ball out well. After a slow start, O’Keefe improved as the game went on. I still don’t understand why POTY Cotter doesn’t start, but he came on and went on a trademark 30 yard run. Gent continues to improve, and might yet make a left wingback (if we play Shrewsbury every week). For a 9ft bloke, Pines wasn’t as dominant as he ought to be. Needs not to misjudge where the ball actually is. I didn’t really notice Humphreys, very quiet, while DKD flitted in and out but showed some sublime touches. And Watters. If we ignore the 2 misses when he was clean through, he was outstanding. More please.

Oh, and the Remembrance Day bugler. What is it about the Remembrance Day buglers in division 3? The most solemn two minutes of the season (every season) shouldn’t end up in a ground full of smirks as the bugler bugles like Les Dawson used to play piano. (Quick bit of maths) If there’s 92 league teams, that’s 46 matches. If they all kicked off simultaneously (which they don’t) we need a MAXIMUM of 46 people able (and willing) to play a bugle. How can we not manage that? A nation OBSESSED with honouring our fighting forces. As it is, with games spread over a weekend, you probably don’t need more than 30. We don’t have 30. I understand that there’s pressure involved…there’s thousands of spectators at Shrewsbury versus Barnsley FC (6, to be precise) but if you can’t find a buglar to hit the right notes in homage to The Fallen, don’t bother. Just press play on a recording. Cos I shouldn’t be hearing the sound of sniggering. I shouldn’t.

Drink du jour: Bodega Bay West Coast IPA in the Henry Tudor. What a FANTASTIC pub this is.

Away: 713

The Damage:
£25 ent
c.£22 petrol (a £65 tank divided by 3 games, TNS with Moll on Thurs, Colwyn Bay Fri, and today.)
= £47

Shrewsbury Town 0-1 BFC, Saturday 12th November 2022

‘Caledonian Lift Company, Manchester. Does that mean there’s a Mancunian Lift Company, Dundee?’

It’s been a while since I’ve been this angry in victory. Got to ground at 10 to 3, turned away from a car park next to stadium with plenty of space cos I didn’t have a permit, followed signs for the park and ride I was advised towards, only to end up in a gridlocked retail park, before finally finding the park and ride and getting out of the car to hear the Reds fans chanting a mile away. We must have scored. (We had.) I got into the match after half an hour.

It started well. I was early into Shrewsbury/Shrosebury, parked up and arranged a street corner to meet with Nice Guy Chris. This was after getting lost in the (Darwin) shopping centre inbetween carpark and main street. And to prove this was no fluke, we did it again on the way back, as Chris and I entered the shopping centre, went down, went up, went around….and found ourselves back at the entrance. ‘Let’s go the long way round this time’ I said.

Before that, we had a pleasant couple of drinks in ye olde pubs. I say pleasant, the pubs were great, ‘Loggerheads’ and ‘Cromwell’s Tap House’, but my two drinks were decidedly average, nevermind that the latter pub charged nearly 14 quid for 2 drinks. Well, it’s good to know I’m helping keep the hostelries of Salop in electricity during this ‘cost of living crisis’. And then it was time to find the car and complete a task considered too difficult for the Crystal Maze (or Krypton Factor, teenagers!)…find your way around Shrewsbury’s mystifying road network. Anyway, anywhere that takes half an hour to drive from town centre to stadium is doing something wrong. (Not enough signs for idiots?) So, yes, I was already in a bad mood…

As I say, we got to ground, where I tipped Chris out to see kick-off. He informs me we scored a very good goal, ably assisted by Devante Cole. He’s half right. I’ve seen it on telly. Cole holds the ball up well and lays it across for a defender to give it to Phillips on a plate. I’d have said unmissable, but 2 later shots from Phillips didn’t land within 10 yards of goal…and I’ve yet to see the apparently wondrous strike against Bolton in the cup last week. He can’t hit a barn door when I’ve seen him.

Oh, did I say I still had to pick up my match ticket? The one I ordered from Oakwell last MONDAY? Well, it hadn’t arrived by Friday, when Sarah and I set off to Manchester to see Courtney Barnett (an Aussie singer, for the uninitiated). She was great btw, as was the venue…the Albert Hall, a former Wesleyan Chapel. Anyway…yes…I rocked up to Montgomery Water Meadows (or whatever it’s called, can’t be bothered to check) only to find the two ‘late turnstiles’ shut. Mentally, I’d prepared myself for not being able to get in. (This happened years ago at Oakwell…I got there after kick-off, all turnstiles shut, no-one around to speak to…and spent the afternoon in the old social club not watching us lose 2-0 at home to Reading.)

(Un)fortunately, the exec bit was open. I wandered in and a ‘can I help you?’ later I was onto something, albeit via a lady who overheard my name and asked if my ticket was a ‘duplicate’. Obviously, THOSE tickets were in a different part of the office completely. I was in. Or I was once I went back out, doubled back to the away end, and walked through an open door manned by a steward. Good timing though, as the next minute and a half was the best of the game. Cadden, goalkeeper to beat, MUST score…but can’t control a ball, chasing after it to cross it back in for Cole, who MUST score…but can’t head a ball, and it loops onto the bar…where Tadic MUST score, but pokes the rebound wide from 4 yards. Those 6 seconds were ALL us.

The other 50 minutes? I don’t think I saw a single save, though Collins at least caught a few crosses. We played some lovely triangles in harmless areas of the pitch before losing it We found the stand a few times, as did they, but as the match went on, it became one team incapable of scoring against another who’re not interested. Time-wasting highlights from the Super Reds included Collins holding onto it 15 seconds (in the 57th minute!) and us running towards the corner flag when we were 2 on 2 late on. Even more depressingly, some fans were calling for us to do exactly that. I took that as my cue to get up and go pick up Chris. I’d chosen a higher perch in order to get a better view of this sh*te.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Edwards. Always in the right place, and tracked back superbly to outpace a Shrew onto a delicious throughball. Plus he can throw a ball 40 yards (twice) and who doesn’t wanna see THAT!?
** Kitching. Excellent defending, in particular preventing 2 crosses after I’d seen Cadden unable to do same.
* Mads. Love it when he reads the game, intercepts the pass and strolls forward.

Londontykes’ MOTM: TBA

Despatches:
If you want more examples of what an abysmal game it was, the highlight of the second half was in injury time when Collins caught it and went over under a challenge. But instead of playing dead (for a change) he jumped up, all angry-like, wanting a piece of the other bloke. Cue both sets of players piling into each other, right in front of our fans, who piled to the front. Check out the TV coverage, as a Burberry-clad yoof was last in, presumably cos he’d spend valuable seconds arranging his scarf across his face. Go Barnsley!

Other players who had an alright game included Collins (who was fantastic on the crosses and hadn’t made a mistake all match till 2 late goalkicks found the stands) and Cole, who made the runs, held the ball up…and got no supply. The rest were like the match – non-descript.

Drink du jour: Wainwright pale ale and Wrangler IPA. Both as average as they come.

Away: c.800

Today’s take home: Get there earlier, or not at all.

b>The Damage:
£24 ent
£20 travel
= c.£44

The Tunes:
BBC5Live
Things Take Time, Take Time (Courtney Barnett)
BBC 6Music (Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul Show)

Shrewsbury Town 3-1 BFC, Tuesday 23rd October 2018

‘Pinnock, yer turning into f***ing Nyatanga….’

The teams come out at Montgomery Water Meadow.

Things are getting worse.  Not content with conceding after 8 mins of the 1^st half and 7 mins of the 2^nd v Chorlton (without the Wheelies), we concede after 2 mins against the Shrews.  And forgive me if we’ve seen this before, a mere 2 games ago against Luton…the fullback fails to cut out a cross, the keeper makes a hash of it, and their striker is left with a tap-in.  But it must be the SYSTEM’S fault, as it’s not Cavare failing in defensive duties, it’s Williams on the opposite flank, and it’s not reserve keeper Walton, but Should-be reserve-keeper Davies, Captain Awesome.  'Christ Davies' (as I think he’s called, judging by the number of people calling him that throughout), if you can’t catch it cos you’re under pressure, at least PUNCH the ball.  (Later he did…and it worked.  But it was too late by then).

The Salop Leisure Stand...framed by darkness.

It had started well. Not the match, my trip. Got to the quaint (by football league standards) village of Shrewsbury mid-afternoon, ran an errand and ensconsced myself in a charming ye olde worlde pub and restaurant (Cromwell’s Inn).  They had Erdinger on too (in bottles).  And then Molly, Nozzer and their pet chimp rolled in (I’m being harsh; I should be more tolerant to other people’s intolerant views).  Once we were fed and watered, Moll drove us to the out of town edifice that is the Montgomery Waters Meadow, another lower league stadium tarred by sponsors you’ve never heard of.  I blame McCain oven chips.  They started all this.

Before it all went wrong...

Good timing, straight in and the pick of the seats despite a decent midweek turnout from the Super Reds.  Following Charlton, this was just what we needed; a game soon after against a side in or around the bottom 3.  They murdered us from the start.  It wasn’t long before Davies was beaten, again.  A ball was played out wide and their player was one-on-one with Pinnock.  Hang on.  Didn’t this happen Satdy?  Pinnock shows him inside but Shrews always had a man extra and despite (because of?) a desperate lunge from Mowatt, they score, the ball looping over Davies after the aforementioned deflected the ball.  ‘How s*** must you be, we’re winning two-nil.’  Indeed.

Shrews' vocal element, top right.

One highlight of following the Super Reds is when fellow fans argue amongst themselves.  Is Davies s*** or really s***?  Anyway, his defenders thought they’d won the argument when the captain made a decent one-handed save to prevent 3-0 on the stroke of half-time.  It was within arm’s reach, mind yer.  Their lad shoulda buried it.
Still, half time, we’ll come out fighting, etc (actually, that was later, when the management of both teams squared up following a poor challenge by McGeehan).  The only question was who would Moncur come on for.  Thiam?  Never a footballer, nevermind a winger.  The anonymous McGeehan?  Can’t really, he’s just come on for the injured Dougall (who’d been kicked out of the game; very SHREWd).  Bahre?  But he runs around, and wasn’t to blame for Charlton.  And that only really left Mowatt, who was comfortably our best player.  No, leave him on the bench.

I was surprised the 'safe standing' wasn't fuller.

And it works, as we pull a goal back from nothing.  The ball is lifted into the area from our left and in the ensuing melee, Pinnock puts it in from close range.  Hope!  Moncur comes on (for Thiam, obvs), dazzles for 5 mins, has a shot cleared off the line…then disappears.  And the icing is put on the cake when they get a corner which is headed in from 12 yards.  I’m resigned, others are angry.  Having seen it on telly, I’m joining the Livid Party.  Stendal and his f***ing…what do you call it? Defending a zone? Zonal defending!  Got there in the end.  Christ.  I’ll give you zonal defending.  Mark the area where their bloke stands and have someone on the post.  The ball goes in next to the far post, about 2 yards off the floor.  Soft.  Bit like us. 

The away end, defeat looming.

We are back to being put in our place by Shrews fans, even more so as Stendal is sent off following the handbags on the touchline.  ‘Just because you’re losing.’  Damn right.  ‘3-1 to the sheepshaggers’ (a retort to earlier moronic chants from the away end).  And don’t get Moll and Salisbury started on the age-old ‘Shrewsbury’s a sh*thole, I wanna go home’, sung by folk who have no sense of irony whatsoever.  Next year (!) let’s have a round of ‘Shrewsbury’s a beautiful and mildly interesting place full of great pubs’.  I’ll start…

S

*** Molly, for the lift. 

** Salisbury, for the bed.  (Will he be angry he hasn’t got MOTM?) 

* BFC box office.  For offering to get my ticket reprinted (it took a week to turn up through the post).
  
Seriously?
*** No-one.  Again.
** Mowatt.  Only one who looked interested AND could do something with the ball.
* Moncur.  For 5 minutes.  F*** me.

Londontykes' MOTM: 1. Mowatt  2. Bahre  3. No-one

Where the Shrews' big nobs hangout.

Despatches:
Lindsay flicked one onto the bar late on.  So he WAS playing.  Pinnock was appalling, his worst game yet (but rumour had it he was having to cover for 2 fullbacks and his centre half partner.  Maybe.)  Davies was…Davies.  Williams cannot defend, and is not fast enough in attack.  If George Smith couldn’t eke out a career at Oakwell, this bloke has no chance.  Cavare?  I’m mystified.  Looks the part, athletic, quick (going forward).  But for a defender, he can’t defend.  And the athleticism?  Small bursts here and there, but can’t sustain it.  The midfield?  Bahre tried to the very end, tho nothing worked.  Potts was awful and got dragged off.  Dougall I’d noticed (for once) cos the hatchet job which caused his substitution was the 3^rd foul on him.  Was he targeted?  As for Moore, it looked a gamble too far.  He didn’t look fit at Charlton and he didn’t look fit tonite.  Didn’t win a header till the 90^th minute (unless it was his flick-on for Pinnock’s goal?)

Now, all I need is a discussion on the way home about how all these foreigners in our country are destroying our identity…

Onwards and upwards!

Back to the teams lining up...

Drink du jour: Erdinger.  Not nearly enough of it.

Away: c800

The Damage:
£21 ent
£13 train
£12 Molly’s dinner
= £46

The Tunes:
Vulnicura (Bjork)
Walking The Line (Johnny Cash)
Latenighttales (Jon Hopkins)
Latenighttales (BadBadNotGood)
Behind the Counter with Max Richter (Various)

Pedestrians Only.  A pathway outside the stadium.

Shrewsbury Town 0-3 BFC, Saturday 16th January 2016

‘E-i-e-i-e-i-o up to seventeenth we go’

Shrewsbury, yesterday

Can the Reds’ juggernaut be stopped?  I make that 3 away wins in a row I’ve seen (I missed P’boro).  Only 2 more and we’ve equalled the 5 in a row I saw us lose at home earlier this season.  That means, in the last 2 months we’ve enjoyed 5 (FIVE!) wins.  If one were to ignore the luck in beating Millwall, that means we’ve beaten 4 sides on MERIT - the sides currently occupying 19^th, 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd.  Lies, damned lies, etc.  Anyway, we’re certainly either reeling teams in (Rochdale and Swindon are next; beat them and we could be above the pair) or we’re leaving teams behind (surely we’re destined to finish above the 4 sides we’ve recently beaten, as well as the hapless Crewe.)

The Main Stand from the outside

The fans (tremendous vocal support today) still sang ‘how s*** must you be’  but a couple of golden oldies joined the fray; ‘up the football league we go’, ‘It’s just like watching Brazil’ (once, not many takers).  How the tide turns.  ‘Lee Johnson’s red and white army’.  No wonder he came over at the end to milk the applause.  Tactical genius:  2 up front, with wingers in support.  I don’t know why no-one else thought of it.  Now, if only we can beat Barcelona this season, that’ll cancel out the Altrincham defeat.  

A la Wycombe, the last building in town.

Mind, I’m not sure about baiting these Welshies (Shrewsbury!) by singing the BRITISH national anthem…or ‘Ingerlund, Ingerlund’.  But I could understand ‘sheep sheep sheep shaggers’ cos we could definitely see a flock in the distance; a la Wycombe, this really was the last building in town. But as Andy has said, singing ‘Shrewsbury is a s***hole’ is clearly the work of those deluded enough not to have spent some time IN Shrewsbury.  I hope they stay up…

'Super Blues'.  Almost as funny as 'The Super Reds'

We battered Shrews in the 1^st half and coulda, shoulda been 3 or 4 to the good.  Instead, we nearly went in at two-all, as Davies saved a pen and a bullet header off a corner as the half closed.  How the ref found them that pen, I’ll never know.  It looked a perfectly good tackle to me – and I had a better view than the ref.  Perhaps that was the problem.


By then it was 0-2.  Their defence look worse than ours, a long boot from Davies resulting in Winnall clean through.  Cunningly, he chose to blast it with his left THROUGH the keeper.  With such left-footed confidence, I thought it was Hourihane at 1^st.  Phew.  Then, Winnall runs at a couple of defenders, they back off, and he bobbles one in to the far corner from 20 yards.  I’d be embarrassed myself if Winnall scored from that range against ME, so I bet that keeper’s not playing next week.Winnall was, of course, joined by Marley Watkins this week – our very own Heskey and Owen (a carthorse and a one-trick pony).  We’ll be alright till we qualify for the finals and play against some decent opposition.  Or, more likely, Rochdale.  Anyway, well done the pair of them, they tore Shrews apart.Second half…we sat back, invited them on (to no danger whatsoever) before the Adam Hammill show took effect  for the last half hour and he took the p*** and destroyed them down our left.  Still, we only had a Mawson header to show for all our promising opportunities, as he bundled home after his header was blocked from behind the line.  Would the 1^st effort have counted?  I’ll never know.  

Davies saves the pen.

My marks?*** Loko.  Thanks for the lift to and from the ground.  Shrewsbury is a lovely, lovely place, but their new ground is a bit of a f*** on to get to.  I certainly wouldn’t fancy walking it.** Hicksy.  Had a fiver accumulator which rested on Leicester beating Villa in the evening game.  I caught the end, showing Mahrez missing a pen and Villa equalising.  ‘F***ing Mahrez’ I texted our resident gambler.  ‘It’s ok, I cashed out 4 mins earlier for £130’.  Genius!  (And also the 1^st person I’ve ever known to use that ‘cash out’ thing I see advertised every time I watch football on telly)* Mrs Loko.  For telling us the reason she doesn’t care for football is cos it’s ‘too aggressive’ (just after telling me why she likes rugby league and boxing).  I presume she means the fans…(Hicksy and Loko??)
Otherwise:

*** Winnall.  There is a definite correlation between his ability to stand up and his likelihood of scoring.  If he fancies his chances of scoring, he’ll do his best to stand up and vice versa.  Today he stood up.  And he scored (two).  Always said he was brilliant!  

** Davies.  What can I say?  Shouldn’t have even been needed what with our dominance, but who knows what would have happened had they bagged.  Another BFC collapse?  

* Hammill.  I love you, Adam.  You make watching Barnsley almost a pleasure.  Don’t ever leave.
Londontykes' Top 3:
1. Winnall
2. Davies

3. Hammill

'bury 0 'sley 3

Despatches:
Nice to see Bree get another run-out.  Not perfect, but more pluses than minuses.  AT LEAST as good as Wabara.  White again looked good going forward, while I never noticed the centre halves save for Mawson scoring.  Hourihane played deeper (told to look after debutant Brownhill?) and looked all the better for it.  Wadd will point out he took the corner for Mawson to score.  I will point out he took the free kick which flew over the bar (again).  Brownhill…I never noticed…performed the Luke Berry role very well…and Isgrove ran around a lot.  Someone should throw him a stick.
Drink du jour:  ‘You’ve come all the way here and you drink exactly the same drink you could have had anywhere in Europe’.  Yes, we hunted out the Shrewsbury and District CAMRA pub of the year so I could have a bottle of Leffe.  Later on, I enjoyed a bottle of Erdinger in another pub.  Sorry lads, I just don’t care for bitter.  
I’m with Andy though:  next time, we should get here at 10am and have a pub crawl.  Shrewsbury really is charming.  Especially when juxtaposed with the charming village of Wolverhampton down the road – where I changed trains.  Honestly, there’s a lot to be said for lower league football, one being the lack of visits to the likes of Wolverhampton and Brumingham.
One point of note re: the home fans; however well they were getting beaten, there was no flooding out the ground for them, so give them their dues.  If we were getting drubbed by the likes of Barnsley, we’d be…well, we’d be confused for a start!
Onwards and upwards!
Away: 789
The Damage:
99.80 train (via Solihull, Fri nite - treating the other half!)
70 hotel in Shrews (see above)
20 ent (see above - she didn't want to come to the match!)
3 prog

= £192.80

Londontykes' flag

Drab day for Shrews fans

The teams come out

Two of these may or may not run Reds' fans bar Redfearns

Shrews fans to our right

A Barnsley flag in the home end. 

A minute's silence.  I never did catch why.

Couldn't resist.  Genius.