Highbury Stadium: Fleetwood Town v Shrewsbury Town (Saturday 26th August 2023)

Thank you very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video! Here are my thoughts on the day below:
A battle of the towns in Lancashire as Fleetwood took on Shrewsbury in the EFL League One.
Fleetwood have not gotten off to the best start after a promising end to the last campaign left Scott Brown’s side 13th in the table after potential fears of relegation in the middle to late stages. This season however, 1 point from 4 games, including being knocked out of the EFL Cup by Port Vale to make it 4 losses in a row in all competitions, is far from ideal for the Cod Army.
Shrewsbury on the other hand have started the campaign decently with two wins against Cheltenham and Burton Albion. But two losses against Stevenage and most recently away to Lincoln City.
On the day, The Cod Army were firmly on the front foot, creating many chances and flooding the ball into the box to stop the rot of bad form. They did everything but score and were in control of the game until former Celtic player Scott Robertson slipped on the edge of the Shrews area, Daniel Udoh managed to run the full length of Highbury and slotted past Jay Lynch.
This period of total madness continued from Fleetwood as a ball lumped forward by Shrewsbury leaving Jay Lynch to run out, miss the ball and collect the Shrews man running in behind which left Fleetwood a man down. The game lost in the space of 3 minutes.
Into the second half, and to their credit, Fleetwood continued to make things happen despite their man disadvantage, they scored a goal which was given offside around the 60 minute mark but couldn’t create any clear cut chances.
The Shrews were patient and smart to not let the game run away from them. They created some chances but took no major risks and brought a couple of decent saves from substitute keeper Stephen McMullan.
A moment of madness from Josh Earl saw him sent off in added time for kicking out at a Shrewsbury player (spotted by the assistant referee) and that was that in Lancashire. An okay performance for Fleetwood but points have to be on the cards sooner rather than later for them. That’s now 3 wins for Shrewsbury who will maybe hope to challenge the play offs later in the campaign.
A nice day in Fleetwood in which I felt Scott Brown’s side were extremely unlucky to lose the game. But goals win games and points do mean prizes. I liked Junior Quitirna on the wing, he seemed tricky and nimble and he could be crucial for them this season.
I don’t often have food at games but I decided to today and was very fortunate that I got two hot dogs in the afternoon for £5 altogether. Fair play to Fleetwood for the respectful prices there!