Category Archives: Shrewsbury Town

Birmingham City, Brentford, Shrewsbury Town

EFL Football Manger Cup Round Two Review

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The EFL Football Manager Cup is building up ahead of steam following the second round’s completion.

The virtual cup began on Monday 18 April with 54 teams in the hat and has now been whittled down to just 16 sides.

The match of the round was undoubtedly Brenford’s compelling encounter with Shrewsbury Town.  The Bees had to come from behind twice to secure a 2-2 draw in normal time.  Following an additional 30 minutes, the sides still could not find a winner so the contest was settled by who could keep their nerve from the penalty spot.  Ultimately it was the Championship side who prevailed 3-1 thanks to goalkeeper David Reyna who produced the crucial save from Shrewsbury’s midfielder Shaun Whalley.

Joe Lolley’s Nottingham Forest meanwhile managed to put five past Southend at the City Ground thanks to two goals from Ben Watson and Portuguese left back Yuri Ribeiro.  Lee Camp’s Birmingham City side also managed to score five in an impressive 5- 0 over Forest Green Rovers.

Elsewhere, Luton Town progressed to round three with a 3-1 success against Ipswich, mirroring the exact result between the sides when they met in the Carabao Cup back in August.  While there were 1-0 wins for Fulham and Mansfield Town against Charlton Athletic and Portsmouth respectively.

This tournament has so far managed to raise £1,879 for the mental health charity, Mind UK and you can continue to donate via the JustGive Page until it’s conclusion on the 17th May.

The draw for the next round is set to take place this Sunday via the Football Manager twitter page.

EFL Football Manager Cup Schedule

The Round of 16 – Commences week of May 4th

The Quarter-finals – May 11-14th

The Semi Finals –  Saturday May 16th

The Final – Sunday May 17th

Championship, Liverpool, Premier League, Shrewsbury Town

Should the FA Cup replay’s be scrapped?

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Following the New Meadow 2-2 draw with Shrewsbury and Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp stated his first team players, nor himself, would appear in the replay back at Anfield.

Image result for shrewsbury town v liverpool
Shrewsbury’s Jason Cumming’s scored the equaliser on Sunday to take the tie back to Merseyside.

Since Klopp’s arrival to the Premier League he has shown no happiness towards the busy December period and the replay format of the cup, it seems he believes the players are requested to play too often, hindering their physical capability and lack of recovery time. Despite this, his team way ahead at the top of the Premier League do not seem to be suffering on the whole. A factor which is potentially being interpreted as ignorance when their competition is from the lower leagues who play more games than those in the top division with remarkably less money and resources.

A recent discussion on BBC Radio 5 Live heard how Great Britain hockey star Samantha Quek argued the FA Cup replay’s should be scrapped and the format should be changed to two separate pots of Premier League and Championship teams and another of the lower divisions. A disgruntled Tranmere fan was on the phone to explain how much the FA cup meant to a lower league team, not just financially but sentimentally, and rightfully so.

The FA Cup ties and replays are renowned for bringing extra revenue to smaller clubs which can become a vital input for changes that Premier League clubs do not have to think twice about. Shrewsbury manager Sam Ricketts explained how the money from the return trip to Anfield would allow for improved drainage of the pitch and cameras for analysis to be used in games. Something Premier League regulars may take for granted.

The FA Cup allows for extra distribution of money which is circulated within English football, vitally this money can reach the lucky lower league teams who make it through the rounds. But it is also the importance of sentiment that the cup brings. For a supporter, the FA cup can be a magical occasion and allows for that chance to visit a Premier League ground to watch their team play against some the world’s greats. Similarly for a player, who may have finished a day working, to then take to the stage lined up against world famous players, a great euphoric feeling which can’t be replicated.

Yes, the Premier league may be tasking for players who play a higher standard week in week out, but they are professional. Their clubs, if anything out of respect, should participate thoroughly in an FA Cup game as if it was any other game.

Liverpool, Shrewsbury Town

Shrew Good For Liverpool!

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League 1 Side Shrewsbury Town, who currently sit in 16th Posistion in League 1, proved to be a tough nut to crack for Champions League holders Liverpool in their FA Cup 4th round tie, played yesterday at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

Liverpool as is their way in cup competitions this season, decided to field a virtual academy team, with several key first teamers left on the bench.

Jurgen Klopp clearly thought and felt that the team he selected would be able to see off the league 1 side… However, as was shown on the night – Shrewsbury had other ideas.

The Shrews played a 3 5 2 Formation, which is used by several teams throughout the league, because it is very diffcult to play against. Liverpool stuck with their tried and tested 4 3 3 formation, which has left them unbeaten in the Premier League so far.

Liverpool started the first half quite strongly and took a lead through Curtis Jones.

This was the point at which it was thought the flood gates would open and Liverpool would run riot.

But…

Quite the opposite happened, with Shrewsbury sticking to their game plan and forcing Liverpool to go out wide a number of times and not taking the chances they were creating.

Shrewsbury grew in confidence and as the first half went on, they gained a better foothold in the game and finished the stronger team at half time & … just 1 goal down.

HT Shrewsbury 0 Liverpool 1

The second half started and unbelieveably within 60 seconds from a Liverpool cross, the Shrewsbury wingback Donald Love, in trying to clear the ball, put it in the back of his own net.

Shrewsbury 0 Liverpool 2

A stunned silence fell around the ground, but, rather than letting it get them down, Shrewsbury, simply carried on where they had left off in the first half, getting stronger and putting Liverpool on the back foot.

Shrewsbury then decided to make a substitution with Jamie Cumings coming on and very shortly he was into the action, scoring a goal to close the score to 1-2.

With Liverpool getting anxious, they threw on First Salah and then Firmino in an effort to scare Shrewsbury, though it has to be said this failed as both players were in effective as Shrewsbury stuck to the game plan

Cumings then made the score 2-2 and that was how it remained until the end, meaning that they will go to Anfield for the replay and full of belief that they can win the tie.

That fact will be made easier, because the Liverpool team they play, will closely resemble the team that played yesterday, as the first team are on a Premier League Winter break.

So the Shrews were to Shrew Good for Liverpool. How do you think Shrewsbury will get on in the replay?

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Carabao Cup: Round One Draw Announced

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The Carabao Cup Round One draw was made on Thursday evening from Morrisons, Colindale, North West London.

There were two stand out ties from the draw with AFC Wimbledon playing MK Dons, while newly-promoted Salford City will face Leeds United.

The draw was conducted by two former England internationals in John Barnes and Ray Parlour and was split into two regions – North and South.

Huddersfield Town, the hightest-ranked team in the Northern Section, will face Lincoln City while the highest ranked Southern side, West Bromwich Albion, will face Millwall.

Every club from Sky Bet League One and League Two enter the Carabao Cup in Round One, along with 22 Championship clubs.

Only Cardiff City and Fulham – who finished 18th and 19th respectively in the Premier League last season, will enter in Round Two, alongside the clubs from the Premier League, not in European competitions.

The first round matches are scheduled to take place week commencing Monday 12thAugust, with the final due to take place on March 1, 2020.

Full Round One Draw can be seen below:

North Draw

Tranmere Rovers v Hull City

Grimsby Town v Doncaster Rovers

Wigan Athletic v Stoke City

Port Vale v Burton Albion

Nottingham Forest v Fleetwood Town

Bradford City v Preston North End

Blackpool v Macclesfield Town

Blackburn Rovers v Oldham Athletic

Mansfield Town v Morecambe

Accrington Stanley v Sunderland

Scunthorpe United v Derby County

Rochdale v Bolton Wanderers

Huddersfield Town v Lincoln City

Middlesbrough v Crewe Alexandra

Shrewsbury Town v Rotherham United

Sheffield Wednesday v Bury

Salford City v Leeds United

Barnsley v Carlisle United

South Draw

Colchester United v Swindon Town

AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons

Oxford United v Peterborough United

Queens Park Rangers v Bristol City

Plymouth Argyle v Leyton Orient

Wycombe Wanderers v Reading

Charlton Athletic v Forest Green Rovers

Gillingham v Newport County

Stevenage v Southend United

Luton Town v Ipswich Town

Walsall v Crawley Town

Bristol Rovers v Cheltenham Town

Brentford v Cambridge United

Coventry City v Exeter City

Swansea City v Northampton Town

League One, Shrewsbury Town, Stoke City

Donald Udoh… A Rising Star!

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Daniel Udoh…  Daniel Who? Daniel Udoh is the star striker currently plying his trade for

AFC Telford, who play in the National League North and is a name that the league scouts have been flocking to see play, as he has been setting the National League North alight with his scoring prowess, by netting 26 league goals in all competitions, which is a record for AFC Telford, since they reformed

Udoh, was born in Nigeria and has shown good promise with his all round game, since joining Telford. His 26 goals have come in 46 appearances, which is better than 1 in two and would be the envy of any of the top strikers.

Shrewsbury Town, managed by Sam Ricketts, are the current front runners and favourites to secure his signature.

Should this happen, then it would mean a return to league football, for Udoh, who was a member of the famed Crewe Alexander academy and made 15 appearances in Leagues 1&  2 for the railwaymen before he was released last summer.

However the links between the two clubs, who are not far apart geographically, is not renowned, though Sam Ricketts the Shrews boss, once played for Telford in their previous guise

So with Udoh being out of contract this summer, could it be that he will be plying his trade at a higher level. If that is the case, then Telford would receive some nice compensation