Rochdale: Ramming; Moss; Wilson; Ebanks-Landell (Silcott-Duberry 22’); Adebayo-Rowling [Y]; Adeeko (Gilmour 87’); Francis; Taylor; Brown (Henderson 87’); Hannant (Smith 77’); Dieseruvwe.

Unused substitutes: Bradley; Leonard; Waller.

Scorers: Adeeko (33’); Hannant (43’); Smith (80’).

Shrewsbury: Brook; Ruffels (Gbodé 45+1’ [Y]); Boyle [Y]; Anderson [Y] (Lloyd 75’); Berkoe; Gray [Y]; Sang (Golding 76’); Hoole; Turner-Cooke (Jude-Boyd 46’); Fletcher (McMahon-Brown 65’); Davison.

Unused substitutes: England; Proctor.

Match officials: Referee – Mr S Mather; Assistants – Mr K Mulraine & Mr P Newhouse; Fourth – Mr S Stockbridge.

Attendance: 3,241.

Even the most sceptical of climate-change sceptics would not have been surprised by the Met Office’s announcement that 2026 was the UK’s hottest season on record. The arid yellow state of the grass was as effective a statement of this than any official press release. Yet, after only two weeks of heavy showers the ground is turning green again quicker than most would have imagined possible. Now if Salop supporters thought the victory over Salford at the weekend was a sign of the green shoots of recovery starting to spread, then the midweek trip to not so sunny Rochdale would have disabused them of any such optimism.

Spotland Stadium – now known as the Crown Oil Arena for commercial purposes (other fuels and lubricants distributors are available) – was the scene of one of Salop’s biggest away wins: a 7-1 victory a quarter of a century ago. Even so, Rochdale away has not been a particularly fruitful fixture for Town since then, as evidenced by the fact that after that eight-goal thriller there has been only a solitary victory – and that was behind closed doors and facemasks during the pandemic. The expectation of bucking the dismal trend rested on two factors: that Salop would take confidence from their first league win of the season; and this would give the visitors an edge over a Rochdale team with confidence levels corresponding to a run of three straight defeats.

Like Shrewsbury, Rochdale is a club whose prestige stems from being a member of the Football League. So, like Shrewsbury, dropping into the National League deprived the Dale of much more than the EFL badges on the sleeves of their shirts – it robbed the club of its dignity. Severe financial problems saw the club teetering on the edge of administration, but a £2million buyout by the family of computer entrepreneur Sir Peter Ogden brought a financial stability that created the conditions for promotion back the EFL at the end of last season. However, in their opening fixtures Rochdale had totally failed to convert a promotion feel-good factor into league points.

The stage was set for Salop to take another step forward, with Gavin Cowan naming an unchanged starting eleven. This meant another start for Tom Anderson; with the transfer window slamming shut (the mandatory method of closure) an hour or so after the game this seemed to imply that the centre back would not be going anywhere before January, unless a club lower down the pyramid was interested in taking him off Salop’s hands. The manager seems to have successfully painted himself into a corner on this one. He prefers Anderson’s experienced to Isaac Lee’s potential, but had the former been spirited away by another club in the summer (which must have been Cowan’s desired outcome) then Lee would be playing in any event, in the process gaining experience in the fiery furnace of first team football.

Salop, in their white third strip, started tentatively, which appeared suited the hosts right down to the turf as they were playing a high forward line to press the visitor’s less than mobile defence. The Dale played with more confidence than one might expect for a team yet to register a point, while Town tried their ‘never mind the quality feel the width’ sideways moves and high balls into the box. Kevin Berkoe – who at this early stage is Salop’s most consistent performer – was able to demonstrate that he had been working on long throw-ins. Nothing too much for the visiting supporters to worry about, with their team having early opportunities. Rochdale, however, seemed to be getting a firmer grip on proceedings but just after their first clearcut chance – a free header that was off target by not much more than the width of the crossbar – they suffered setback. Their captain – former Salop defender Ethan Ebanks-Landell – was substituted for what could only have been an injury unless Rochdale had agreed to a late transfer window sale and the player was required to undergo an urgent medical.

Far from the loss of their skipper unsettling the hosts they started to dictate the terms of the game and scored just after the half hour mark when Town repulsed one attack only for the ball to fall nicely to Baba Adeeko, who fired clinically to beat Will Brook. Salop’s response was to create opportunities that Rochdale frustrated with a minimum of fuss. However, a Josh Ruffels slip left Brook totally exposed and Luke Hannant beat the Town ‘keeper with a lofted shot that entered the net with a touch off the crossbar. Ruffels immediately required treatment, having sustained an injury either to a muscle or his pride; Joe Gbodé replaced him. Boos from the away seats at the half time whistle gave a fair indication of the travelling supporters’ assessment of Salop’s ability to get back into the game.

The visitors started the second half with a further change: Arkell Jude-Boyd replaced Jay Turner-Cooke. (Has anyone else noticed the increasing number of footballers in the EFL with double-barrelled names: team line-ups are increasingly resembling those for a fixture between Old Etonians and Oxford University in the early years of the FA Cup.) Rochdale’s two goal lead gave them the luxury of needing to do nothing more than containing their opponents’ efforts to score. The fact that they did this successfully forced Salop into ever increasing bursts of frenetic feebleness. The visitors probed from some kind of opening, but with limited options in attack much of their possession involved passing across field and then backwards to try and construct a new attack from scratch: “Sideways and backwards, everywhere we go” was the chant from the back of the away stand.

Cowan introduced Kian McMahon-Brown for his first appearance in a Town shirt, with the ineffective Isaac Fletcher coming off. Then after more huffing and puffing, the Salop manager made a final double substitution, brining on George Lloyd for Tom Anderson and new loanee Michael Golding for the luckless Tom Sang. Salop’s No.10 had another off day, with a string of less than threating set pieces. He was hooked off just as he was standing over another dead ball waiting for a clinical deliver; Berkoe took the free kick instead and promptly set up Will Boyle for a headed attempt at goal that was tipped over by Nils Ramming (although this was purely academic as Boyle was judged offside).

To be fair to Town their second half performance did not lack effort and commitment, and there would be fans feeling they were unlucky not the score a goal that might tipped the balance of the game. In particular, the two new loan signings put themselves about attempting to show what they could do. However, if one Salop goal seemed a remote prospect, scoring twice was evening further down the road. A final insult was Jonny Smith taking advantage of both a through ball and Brook being way off his line to score with a curving shoot – just to show there are still professional footballers with no nonsense working-class names of yore.

If the victory over Salford had been a tentative step forward, then this result was sideways and backwards towards all the old problems. At the end of the match Cowan gave perfunctory applause to the travelling supporters and drifted away in the direction of the tunnel, looking like a man whose faith in the process might just be wanning.

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Shrewsbury: Brook; Ruffels; Boyle; Anderson [Y]; Berkoe; Gray; Sang; Hoole; Turner-Cooke (Gbodé 69’); Fletcher; Davison (Lloyd 84’).

Unused substitutes: England; Golding; Jude-Boyde; Issac; Proctor.

Scorer: Boyle (74’).

Salford: Norris; Garbutt (N’Mai 78’); Aimson; Oluwo; Awe (Allen 61’); Powell (Celaya 61’); Wiredu (Grant 78’); Bonds; Molyneux; Langstaff; Udoh (Grayson 61’).

Unused substitutes: Long; Odoh.

Match officials: Referee – Mr A Dale; Assistants – Mr G Taylor & Mr T Cooke; Fourth – Mr J Chadwick.

Attendance: 4,638.

Back in the days before memes, there was a character that often appeared in cartoons and comedy sketches of a man – and it was always men – that would parade round the town centre with a placard declaring “THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH”. The fact that I am relating this to you now more than indicates that such suggestions of an imminent apocalypse have proved to be as wide of the mark as one of Tom Sang’s set piece deliveries. Modern day prophets of doom do not into town wearing sandwich boards; they are more likely to sit in front of a screen and keyboard engaging in an endless bidding war of ever wilder conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, this does mean that eccentric on-line communities develop and now on a Saturday we do not get one maverick with a warning of looming social catastrophe, but a whole lot of them parading around claiming they represent the sensible left-behind majority.

Now, out of this deep diversionary rabbit hole! The point is that with only four games played there were plenty of Salop fans digging out their “THE END OF THE EFL IS NIGH” banners. My head tells me that it is far too early to get so pessimistic; my heart tells me that yet another poor start to the season only reinforces a pervasive mood of a football club cut adrift and in deep trouble. The latest trigger for an outbreak of bleakness was the 4-0 League Cup drubbing at Fleetwood midweek.

As cup draws go this must surely be one of the worst: away to a poorly supported bogey team that play in your division. The trip to the Lancashire was not entirely fruitless: the fish and chips were exquisite, and it is always pleasurable to get some sea air in the lungs. From a football point it was a dismal reminder of how irritating the Captain Pugwash theme – played to celebrate a Fleetwood goal – can be. The performance was such that I engaged in my ultimate gesture of censure and disappeared out of the ground as soon as the final whistle sounded. This reflex reaction had the benefit that I was not labelled a ‘happy-clapper’ by the dedicated Town supporters that were watching the debacle from the comfort of their living room – assuming, of course, that they have the luxury of a comfortable living room.

The prevailing negativity made picking up a first league point of the season more important than life and death, in the Shankly sense at least. Fortunately, Salop’s next opposition had suffered a similar pointless start to their campaign, so it was axiomatic that by the end of the afternoon at least one of the teams would have broken their duck. The downside was that the visiting team was in preseason highly fancied for promotion: ‘moneybags’ Salford City. (In an increasingly card-only environment a moneybag seems as quaint an anachronism as a London cabbie having to a bale of hay in his taxi’s boot to feed his horse.)

Last season Salford had been literally a late goal line clearance away from automatic promotion. Failure in the play-offs saw manager Karl Robinson depart and be replaced by Peter Cklamovski. Further funds had been invested in the Ammies squad to make them both bookies and pundits’ favourites for promotion. In this context, ejection from the League Cup in the first round and league defeats to Barnet and Chesterfield represents a very below par start. The big ‘But’ was that this expensively constructed team would at some point kick-start their season and Salop have an unshakable habit of being opponents that effortlessly provide such a kick-start.

After the Fleetwood defeat Gavin Cowan’s displeasure and disappointment would not have been hidden by a double-decker bus. It was therefore not a surprise that he made changes to Tuesday night’s team: Arkell Jude-Boyd, Isaac England and Joe Gbodé lost their places in starting eleven, to be replaced by Will Gray, Tom Sang and transfer-listed defender Tom Anderson. The inclusion of Anderson in the back three meant Lucca Hoole moved to the right wing-back position.

Salop made their customary bright, but fruitless start. In the league matches at least, Town have performed well as an attacking unit in spells thus far, the big drawback being an inability to score goals in these passages of play. This continued to be true in the opening exchanges of this match, although Salop’s big scoring chance was waved away by Referee Alan Dale (not the New Zealand actor that played Jim Robinson in Neighbours). Josh Davison was close to being mugged in the penalty area, but it was not close enough to a criminal offence for Mr Dale to award Salop their first league penalty in well over a year. Is it possible that EFL referees are playing a convoluted game that has a humiliating forfeit for the next official to award a penalty for Shrewsbury Town. To add further insult, Mr Dale then proceeded to award a succession of free kicks that involved minimal contact anywhere outside the penalty area.

There was no real surprise that once the two pointless teams settled into the match it became a battle of attrition. Salford may be an expensively constructed side, but their football was more a supermarket own-brand sparkling water than champagne. They did the hosts the big compliment of making their priority getting men behind the ball and hoping to score on a breakaway. Given that this was also Salop’s strategy, moments of excitement and flashes of quality were at a premium. Town have been consistently punished for defensive errors, but the Ammies, possibly due to a lack of attacking confidence, lacked ruthlessness. Midway through the first period, a big hole appeared in the home team’s defence but despite having time and being in space Macaulay Langstaff’s shot went wide. Only in time added on before the break did the match acquire a touch of adrenalin. Langstaff ran onto a long goal kick and looked certain to score having skirted pass the advancing Will Brook, only for his shoot to be headed off the line by Will Boyle in a ‘buy one get one free’ clearance that went straight to the Salop goalkeeper’s hands. Salop went straight up the other end, forcing a corner kick. In the resulting penalty area melee, the attacking team managed three attempts on goal that were all, one way or another, repulsed.

The visitors had the better of the play in the first fifteen minutes of the second half but continued to look toothless when they managed to get into a dangerous position. The hour mark prompted Salford to flaunt their wealth by making a triple substitution, calling off three players that would walk into the Salop first team (including Dan Udoh who had little joy on his latest return to the Meadow) and replacing them with another three players that would limp into Town’s starting line-up. The visitors were not throwing caution to the wind but hoping that fresh legs could conjure up a goal. In a more modest change Jay Turner-Cooke made way for the Gbodé man.

The match turned in the host’s favour with fifteen minutes remaining. In the second phase of a corner Gray, with back to goal, did well to feed the ball out to the left to give Salop a second opportunity to get the ball back into the box. The cross landed nicely in the goal match and Boyle managed to poke the ball past Will Norris and into the goal. The Meadow exploded with a massive relief fuelled celebration, which quickly subsided into the acute anxiety that comes with suddenly having something valuable to lose. In the technical area Major Cowan was immediately in a conflab with his lieutenants, perhaps trying to remember what they should do to defend a lead.

Salop got men behind the ball and there were several uncomfortable moments when Salford managed to compress the entire home team into their penalty area. Home supporters feared victory would be snatched away at the last, especially with Mr Dale continually chivvying Town players about wasting time. On ninety minutes there was amazement across the stadium when the fourth official indicated that three minutes was being added on for stoppages. I even thought that it was eight minutes but a misfunction in the display board made it look like a number three. It was three minutes, however, which the home side managed to navigate without conceding an equaliser.

Three points on the board was what was required and with a battling performance that was what Salop got, with the bonus of a satisfying clean sheet. The home defence was helped by Salford being very safety first, but when the visitors were chasing the game, they did keep things very tight. The selection of Anderson was controversial, given he is apparently surplus to requirements, but he did play well – although without suggesting that he still ranks as third choice behind Boyle and Sam Stubbs. Hoole did well in his first outing as a wing back of the season, and Kevin Berkoe continues to impress. Some issues remain however: does the team has sufficient quality to score enough goals; Issac Fletcher has yet to make an impact; the young midfielders have potential but are currently short of being reliable first team starters. However, at least Salop now have some league points to build on.

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Shrewsbury: Brook; Ruffles; Boyle; Hoole (Stubbs 72’; Lee 79’); Berkoe; Gray (Turner-Cooke 65’ [Y]); Sang; Jude-Boyd; Fletcher; Gbodé (Lloyd 82’); Davison.

Unused substitutes: Aiston; England; Proctor.

Scorers: Davison (41’).

Barnet: Cox; Williams (Knowles 61’); Tavares (Wright 92’); Collinge; Kanu (Maskell 61’); Reeves (Kenlock 61’); Gallagher; Senior; Ofoborh (Comely 91’); Lakin; Tshimanga (Siaw 95’).

Unused substitute: Ashby-Hammond.

Scorers: Reeves (13’); Lakin (83’); Knowles (90’).

Match officials: Referee – Mr W Davis; Assistants – Mr O Bickle & Mr H Hetherington; Fourth – Mr N Felton.

Attendance: 5,129.

Any Salopian will tell you that the end of the summer commences at the conclusion of the Shrewsbury Flower Show. The Shropshire Horticultural Society’s annual showpiece has not taken place in the last two Augusts, so it is little wonder that Mother Nature has got a little confused with her timing of late. This week, however, there has been a distinct change in the air. On my early morning walks I experienced a faint chill on my arms and legs that made me very conscious that I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. On the roads there was the unfamiliar sight of puddles of lying water.

Things really crystalised on the Thursday when I was watching the first day of the Gloucestershire versus Worcestershire County Championship match at Cheltenham College. Mid-afternoon the sky suddenly turned the darkest shade of grey and amidst heavy spots of rain players and umpires dashed to the pavilion. Pulling my waterproof out, I was relieved that the zipper had not seized up due of a lack of use, but before I could pull the jacket on, torrents of rain were falling. Within minutes most of crowd was sheltering under the pavilion balcony behind the stand watching water wash through the upturned bucket seats above, whilst large puddles appeared on the bone-dry outfield in sufficient numbers for a decision to abandon play for the day a swift and easy one. Oh, how I have missed you, great British summer.

Back at Croud Meadow the atmosphere has been undergoing a similar change. Major Cowan has laid to rest speculation about Daniel Udoh making a surprise return to Salop. The manager’s quest to bolster his squad with two, maybe one, possibly three new faces continues with the remaining days of the summer transfer window disappearing with alarming rapidity. The news that Jack Price’s preseason foot infection has ballooned into an injury that will sideline the veteran midfielder for at least a month could not have come at a worse time. There was some nervousness in the fan base about the return of Price, particularly with his troublesome injury record. Gavin Cowan robustly reassured the doubters that after playing for Brackley last season, Price was stronger, fitter and sufficiently motivated to make an impression at League Two level. The trouble with investing a lot of personal capital in a particular signing is that the value of the investment can go down as well as up.

The defeat at Tranmere might have been a disappointment, but there was enough in a reasonable performance keep the flickering flame of guarded optimism burning. With nothing to feed the animal spirts of Town supporters during the week, there was suddenly a little bit more riding on getting a result in the first home match against Barnet. The Bees where the opposition in Major Cowan’s first game in charge of Salop, a match memorable only for its sheer forgettability. Needing a result to build on, Cowan bet all on keeping a clean sheet and pocketed the modest return of a point from a goalless draw. Seven months on, Salop’s head coach was again seeking a lay a foundation.

It is almost possible to hear Salop fans bristling at the mere suggestion of a ‘smaller’ club (subjectively defined as a club with fewer seasons in the Football League and/or a smaller average attendance) as being better equipped for success than their own club. Barnet certainly fall into this category. Promoted back into the EFL in 2025, the Bees did not perform to general expectation in their first season back, but this time round they are fancied to do really well. This view, at least in part, reflects a strong finish to the previous campaign when they won their fast five matches, averaging over three and a half goals for those games. Having beaten Salford 3-1 on the opening Saturday, it was no wonder that the Bees supporters arrived at the Meadow in buoyant mood, confident that they could be this season’s Bromley.

Cowan made one change from the lineup that started at Tranmere: Joe Gbodé replace George Lloyd. Town were in their anniversary season dark blue shirts, while the visitors appeared in their change strip of purple and white stripes – giving them the appearance of a public-school old boys’ team. In goal for the visitors was last season’s loanee Matt Cox, who was one of the Barnet’s loan signings of the summer.

In the opening ten minutes the home side looked lively and seemed capable of being able to take the game to their opponents, but as soon a Barnet got a clear sight of goal they started to buzz (sorry, just could not resist that one!). The visitors started to apply pressure with Town conceding two corners. Then attacking down the right Danny Collinge eluded the attentions of Will Gray and played the ball into the box. Charlie Lakin’s initial attempt at the target was smothered, but the ball ricocheted into the ‘D’ and bounced nicely for Jake Reeves who executed a nonchalant right footed volley that glided inside the far post. Reeves had joined Barnet on loan from AFC Wimbledon only a few days earlier.

The ease of the visitors’ opener set the tone for the rest of the first half; the visitors were in control of the game and comfortably contained Salop’s laboured attacks up field. They appeared to have total faith in their process and were not going to attempt anything as vulgar as wrapping the game up before half-time. It was something of a surprise that with the break looming Salop got back on level terms. Cox went up to take a high ball in the box but spilled it; Josh Davison was in the right place to net a straightforward goal. If being on the cover of the Official Supporters’ natty new matchday programme portends getting on the scoresheet, then there will be no shortage of players happy to appear on it.

The goal produced an uplift in the mood around the stadium and in the first stages of the second period the home side capitalised on this, totally dominating play. At Tranmere Salop had similar moments of dominance but were unable to make them count. Once again Town did not score while on top – unless they did score but the goal did not count. The contention came from an attack down the left flank. Isaac Fletcher lifted a cross into the box that was perfect for Will Boyle to head at the target. The ball slammed to the right-hand post and bounced into Cox’s midriff and out again where it was hacked away. Did the ball cross the line? That the ball appeared to strike the inside edge of the goal post and Cox was standing well inside the goal line when it hit him suggests it probably did. Tom Sang’s deliveries from set pieces have been thus far inconsistent, but he sent in a beauty of a corner kick which Luca Hoole headed narrowly wide.

With half-an-hour left Barnet made a triple substitution that was clearly tactical. Cowan’s later replacements were largely forced. Jay Turner-Cooke replaced Gray; then Hoole went down with cramp, and Sam Stubbs took his place. Then the substitute had to be substituted: Stubbs took a powerful shot right in the face and hit the deck looking to be out cold. After several minutes of treatment, he left the field to be replaced by Isaac Lee. The make up of the game had significantly shifted and it was the home side that was now on the defensive. Under pressure of high balls into the box the unconvincing headed clearances just courted danger and it was only a matter of time until one clearance fell nicely for an opponent: Larkin’s left-footed volley beating Will Brooks all ends up.

Salop looked deflated, making the one goal deficit seem like a mountain to climb. One breakaway that cut through a stretched Town defence saw Tom Knowles score Barnet’s third goal. The mountain now looked to be of Everest proportions. The match was played out with the home stands deathly silent.

Although on the surface this match looks like a straightforward drubbing, it was a much more curious affair. Neither goalkeeper made a save. The only four shots on target each produced a goal. Apart from the goals (and the one that never was) there was not really any football worthy of recall: in that regard it was like the 0-0 between the teams back in January. In his post-match, Barnet manager Dean Brennan was keen to emphasise that a crucial factor was the depth of his squad which he drew on with his substitutions. Suddenly the bristling is audible again: how is it that a club like Barnet can have a squad with more depth? There is not just one answer, but in broad terms Barnet are simply deeper into a cycle of development than Town are. Brennan’s summer task was to make a good side better; Cowan’s off-season workload was more akin to changing the weather.

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Tranmere: Male; Brough; Smith; Faulkner; Vaulks; Davies (Okoro 73’ [Y]); Conlon (Finley 64’); Senior [Y]; Whitaker [Y]; Ince (Baker-Richardson 89’); Ironside (Turnbull 89’).

Unused substitutes: O’Connor; Scott; Veevers.

Scorers: Davies (35’); Whittaker (63’).

Shrewsbury: Brook; Ruffels; Boyle; Hoole; Berkoe; Gray (Turner-Cooke 64’); Sang (England 82’ [Y]); Jude-Boyd (Aiston 89’); Fletcher; Davison [Y]; Lloyd (Gbodé 65’).

Unused substitutes: Anderson; Pendleton; Proctor.

Match officials: Referee – Mr J O’Connor; Assistants – Mr A Moore & Mr J Brooks; Fourth – Mr M Moss.

Attendance: 7,826.

Another league season officially starts with all the club’s intractable problems as far away from solution as ever: ownership issues; rumours of off-and-on takeover bids; constant turnover of players and managers; severe budget restrictions; the prospect of another season of struggle; divisions between club and supporters. It is certainly a tough time to be a Tranmere Rovers supporter. (Who did you think I was referring to?)

For every Salop fan that has been ruminating about how embarrassing it is to support a club that has become a laughingstock, there will be at least one Tranmere fan of the same mind, and for that matter at least one from clubs all-round the country, at every tier of the pyramid, who are similarly depressed. A few weeks ago, the Tranmere chair, Mark Palios, published a statement about his club’s current health and the situation regarding a potential sale. On Salop social media there were plenty of comments about how this was an example of the good communication so lacking at Croud Meadow. The reaction of Tranmere fans: the statement said nothing new; there were important issues not addressed; the supporters were being taken as mugs; the club’s communications are awful. It is doubtful that the grass is always greener on the other side of the stadium wall, and this is not just due to a long hot drought.

Salop and Tranmere fans are united in concern about the futures of their clubs, both over the course of the coming season and in the longer term. Both groups are patiently waiting on news about a possible takeover. When their phones started to make funny noises on the Friday afternoon before the match, many might have thought this alert was to tell them that a sale of their club had been agreed, only to look at the message and find it was actually the Right Honourable Andy Burnham telling UK citizens that this was not a good time to have a barbeque in the open countryside.

An opening day trip to the Wirral had proved to be popular with Salop fans, even though live match coverage could be accessed through Sky+ without the hassle of travelling. Over 1,400 fans filled the away end at Prenton Park, prior to kick-off loosening their vocal cords in preparation for the afternoon’s entertainment. It was obvious that the big moment had arrived when the smell of a pyrotechnic invaded the nostrils, and blue smoke circulated.

Major Cowan’s starting line-up had one enforced change to the starting eleven that had been in League Cup action at Salford. With Sam Stubbs having a one match suspension for his two yellow cards, Lucca Hoole was inserted into central defence. The skeleton of a settled first team is starting to emerge, but the substitutes bench hinted at fragility beyond that. No Jack Price because of injury; transfer-listed Tom Anderson preferred to Isaac Lee; Hugo Aiston named despite a total absence of minutes in the preseason games.

Further cause for concern, at least in the minds of Town fans that put trust in omens, was the identity of the referee – Mr Jamie O’Connor. This was the same official that had taken charge of Salop’s 4-0 drubbing by Tranmere twelve months previous. Further research revealed that not only had Town lost every match where Mr O’Connor was in charge, but they had also been 4-0 defeats (against Birmingham City in the EFL Trophy and against Crewe in League Two last season). Insult and injury further snuggled up together with another factlet: Tranmere had never lost a match referred by Mr O’Connor.

When play got underway Mr O’Connor showed his sympathetic side to the visitors. In the opening minutes Salop were awarded the benefit of three consecutive fouls by the referee and thus had the freedom to dominate the hosts and create several opportunities. George Lloyd headed a cross from Tom Sang over the bar and shortly afterward from a corner Will Boyle narrowly missed the target with his header. So far, so positive.

After a quarter of an hour Tranmere started settle more in the match. During the summer their new manager, the experienced Darrell Clarke, pulled off a couple of minor coups by recruiting two players with a pedigree well above League Two: Tom Ince and Will Vaulks. This injection of skill and experience make Rovers more of a wild card this season rather than being the perennial strugglers the lazier pundits have predicted. As they gained more possession Tranmere revealed their main threat of targeting high balls into the Salop box. Will Brook did well to tip a looping delivery form Jordan Davies over the bar. Brook was called on shortly afterwards to save an effort lifted in from Vaulks wide on the right flank, which dipped late and could a have squeezed below the bar. There was no doubt that the home side were in the game.

At Salford it had been Arkell Jude-Boyd displaying the value of having a capable right wing-back able to put in crosses. Tranmere had done their homework and made effective efforts to stymie Salop’s no.17. The result of this was that Kevin Berkoe had more space to work in and he used it well. The left wing-back delivered the deep cross that created Salop’s best opportunity of the first half, with the ball being flicked to Josh Ruffles whose volley had to be acrobatically saved by Harrison Male. Tranmere immediately responded with an attack that led to Will Gray conceding a free kick in a position so perfect for a set piece that the hosts could not have chosen a better spot. Vaulks took the kick; Bobby Faulkner headed the ball back into the box; Davies swept it into the net past Brook’s despairing dive.

The mood in the stadium changed in an instant, with the home crowd exploding with a mixture of delight and relief and, despite record temperatures, an icy chill descended on the away end. Tranmere could have doubled their lead with Brook having to gather in an effort by Charlie Whitaker with the Salop back line wide open. On the verge of half time, a long throw-in from the right flank created a melee in front of the Tranmere goal that resembled a fox inviting himself into a chicken coop for afternoon tea. Town seemed certain to score but efforts from Lloyd and Jude-Boyd were blocked by a massed rank of home defenders.

In the first forty-five minutes the visitors had registered most of the possession and more shots than the home side. However, only the effort from the immaculate Ruffles had forced a save out of the Tranmere keeper, while the hosts and managed more efforts on target from fewer shots. Salop started the second period much as they had the first, forcing the hosts back into their own half. From a free kick Lloyd managed to out jump Male (not the biggest ‘keeper on the circuit), only to see his header blocked on the line. I fear that for all his industry Lloyd is in the process of being branded with the Mark of Marquis.

Tranmere had fewer attempts at goal in the second period than they had managed in the first forty-five minutes, but again they successfully made one on-target effort count. On a rare break up field Rovers managed to force the ball out wide left and from not far short of the halfway line Whitaker took possession, raced towards goal cutting through the Town defence like a bishop moving across a chessboard, finishing his run with a shot that found the net. The goal rocked Salop to such an extent that Mr O’Connors’ par score of 4-0 seemed a possibility. It is a credit to the visitors that they did manage to regroup. Joe Gbodé replaced Lloyd and Jay Turner-Cooke came on for Gray, Gbodé showing the value of having a striker with some pace. Tranmere concentrated on protecting their two-goal advantage by fair means or foul, but the chances of Salop pulling the game back to level terms was never more than a remote prospect. Issac England replaced Tom Sang and in a final gesture Cowan chucked Hugo Aiston on in place of Jude-Boyd. (Now that the fifteen-year-old has got a Saturday job he may be able to give up his paper round.)

This defeat should not be painted as a disaster. It was an entertaining contest that could have gone either way. A two-goal margin flattered Tranmere, but it cannot be denied that they took two chances that they should not really have been offered and fair play to them for that. Salop looked tactically organised with a clear game plan. The wing backs offered effective attacking width, but the central midfield disappointed. With Cowan saying he is trying to bring in two additional players to increase his options up front and in attacking midfield, that seems to be the right call. It is just the little matter of getting the right people.

Opening the season with a win would have helped settle some nagging doubts, but we are only one point short of where we were this time last season. Not only that, but we are not in the relegation places either and sit above Gillingham in the table. I could be happy but need Salop to post some wins before that happens.

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It is hard to recall any previous opening of a football league season where the weather conditions have been so counterintuitive. Things were so steamy in The Abbey mid-week, I probably leaked more sweat doing the pub quiz than the average marathon runner produces in their twenty-six miles and 385 yards. England’s green and pleasant land has gone all yellow and crispy, as if it has been relocated to the African side of the Mediterranean. My car has got to look as if it has seen extended service with the Long-Range Desert Group – although without the mounted Bren gun I would hastily add.

Entering a football stadium has been one sure way of getting to see some lush green grass. Travelling up to Salford’s AIG Stadium for the first round of the League Cup, Salop fans were able to feast their eyes on this emerald rarity. (They also got to see an even greater rarity – ‘Dangerous’ Dave Edwards losing his temper – but more of that later.)

The Salford stadium is largely a steel construction, so in the excess heat I was worried that the soles of my Dr Martens would melt and fuse with the metal terracing, making it impossible for me to leave at the end of the match. As it was, I did end the match rooted to the spot – although that was nothing to do with the temperature but the effect of watching a particularly inept penalty shoot-out.

That Salop had hung on to force this spot kick competition both underplays and commends a decent performance from the visiting side. Although Will Brook had been called on to save a shot from Luke Molyneux with barely forty seconds on the clock, Town defended tenaciously and attacked with method. Most of the chances in the first half came from crosses supplied by Arkel Jude-Boyd, who was a standout player in the right wing-back position. Salford enjoyed most of the possession, but it was not really a surprise when Salop took the lead early in the second half. Issac Fletcher had the first bite at the cherry, but his strike was saved by Will Norris in the home goal. The rebound fell to Josh Davison who sent the ball into the net with a clinical right-footed shot, scoring on his senior debut for Town.

Having taken the lead, the visitors looked capable both of defending it and adding to it despite Salford dominating possession. What tipped the game towards the hosts in the final quarter was Sam Stubbs being sent off for two bookings of contrasting harshness. Reduced to ten players, Salop had to draw on all their reserve energy, although this was not enough to prevent the hosts equalising with Kyrell Malcolm scoring with a shot that came from the second phase of a corner.

Having conceded the lead, Town clung on desperately to the prospect of a penalty shootout victory; Salford continued to attack the visitors’ goal with regularity and conviction. However, in time added on for stoppages, the game took a feisty turn. Gavin Cowan had already been shown the yellow card for contesting the Stubbs sending off. With Salford looking to take a quick throw-in near the edge of the technical area there was suddenly an impromptu melee in which a Salford player appeared to throw the ball into the visitors’ Perspex shelter and Dave Edwards responding by knocking one of the opposition team to the floor. It is doubtful that anyone really got a cogent view of what went on, although television footage showed that any push by Salop’s assistant manager was so ineffectual that it would not have felled a house of cards. The officials hedged and eventually resolved matters with a yellow card for George Lloyd and a red for Salford’s Will Aimson – a punishment that was overturned on appeal, an outcome that makes the whole incident even more opaque.

The great stage was set for a penalty shootout that combined tension with a total absence of drama. Of sixteen penalties half were saved and one hit the post. Both the immaculate Josh Ruffles and Luca Hoole had a chance to win the contest with their penalty, but both were saved by Norris, before Jude-Boyd put the cup tie out of its misery. An away draw at Fleetwood Town in the second round is an apt reward for a victory won with a big dollop of football incompetence.

With the opening round of the Carabao Cup providing a soft launch for the new EFL season, the real kick-off of league hostilities will take place with teams well and truly warmed up. Over 1,000 Town supporters have bought a ticket for Salop’s opening league match at Tranmere, in the hope and expectation that last season’s shambolic performance at Prenton Park can be laid to rest by a team that has the strange contradiction of being simultaneously new-look and somewhat familiar. Certainly, this time there will be no angst in the away end if Josh Davison registers a goal for his team.

Prior to the Salford match Major Cowan was very upbeat in his assessment of Salop’s prospects for the season saying that the mood was very much ‘quietly confident’. Given that the Town manager repeatedly says that he does want to play with supporter emotions by making extravagant promises of success, this begs the question: ‘quietly confident’ of what exactly?

Making predictions in football is a mug’s game – which is why I enthusiastically engage in making them. I draw the line at the near impossibility of predicting the end of season league table, but if readers are looking for a detailed League Two one-to-twenty-four prediction by people that have a deep knowledge of the EFL I would recommend the Not the Top Twenty podcast. Lacking the in-depth expertise, my predictions draw heavily on gut-feeling and mood music. Essentially in League Two teams can largely be inserted into one of four groups: Promotion contenders; teams that may challenge; teams that will perform adequately; teams that will be constantly battling to avoid relegation.

The art of prediction is correctly identifying which category your team falls in. This time last year many fans assessed, with varying degrees of bleakness, that Salop were in the relegation category. This was a realistic view until Gavin Cowan arrived and conjured up five back-to-back victories that lifted the club out of imminent danger. At the start of this season the debate centres about whether the extra potential in the Town squad means that we can move the club up a category and see them as being capable of a lower-midtable finish.

Cowan’s summer recruitment has been competent but unspectacular. No marque signings but finding players to perform the roles required within his tactical thinking. It certainly helps that the Director of Football and Head Coach are of the same mind, because they are one-and-the-same person. It does not pay to read too much into a single performance, but there was a lot to like about Salop’s efforts in the Salford match and the eventual outcome. I have developed the general impression that, although there are a few new faces, there is strength derived from a continuity from the final stages of last season. There are also younger players being nurtured and might soon be ready to step up to the first team and make a positive contribution.

“A journey of a thousand li starts beneath one’s feet.”

This text is found in the Tao Te Ching and is attributed to Loazi. In modern translation it is expressed as: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Sometimes when the this first step proves difficult, we succumb to the temptation of giving up and having a big moan. Last season Lincoln City won promotion to the Championship, a tier that they last played at sixty-five years ago. As the club rejuvenated itself, the base aim of each season was to finish four league places above their budget placing. It was a small step to start a successful journey. This seems to be a realistic measure of a good season, and it may be also what Gavin Cowan is quietly confident of Salop achieving in 2026-27.

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As many wise people observe: all things eventually come to an end – good or bad. Whether the football fan regards the EFL’s summer interregnum as an arid dessert of boredom or an oasis of stress-free calm, it will come to its inevitable conclusion at some point. To subvert Sir Tony Blair’s famous line about globalisation: I hear people say we must stop and debate the new football season. Well, you might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer…

Salop fans expecting the closed season would bring massive changes have experienced a big surprise – there has been a total absence of big surprises. Talk about a possible takeover has become a scuttlebutt of epic proportions. BBC Radio Shropshire reported that a prospective purchaser from the USA was edging towards agreeing a deal, and some of the necessary procedures required to enable a sale were underway. The club was happy to confirm that this was the case but could not go public with anything specific. This is not an acceptable situation for those fans that regard the local football club as public property. The snag is that – like it or not – the local football club is a private limited company and is well within its rights not to disclose sensitive information until the appropriate time comes. This is not the place reflect on corporate governance in English football, although if this subject is your bag and you have several hours to spare, I am quite happy to go on, and on, and on about it.

It may be that a big announcement about the takeover was made at the friendly match last Saturday, but if it was made over the Croud Meadow public address system nobody would have heard it. In the absence of earth-shattering news, it has been very much business as usual for the club. The usual business at this time of the year consists of the recruitment of players, improving stadium facilities, launching new kits and doing these whilst not spending money the club has not got. The latter consideration has meant that much of the summer overhaul has been modest, although that does not mean ineffectual.

Football supporters – particularly those of clubs experiencing a downturn in fortunes – cannot resist drawing on the restorative powers of nostalgia. The advent of Town’s 140^th anniversary season is a reasonable opportunity to binge on the club’s back catalogue of inspirational moments. Most noticeable within Croud Meadow (other than the ‘is it really bigger than last season’ pitch dimensions) are some very appealing photographic images that have been added to the windbreaks at the end of the stadium’s stands. Reflecting various moments of the club’s history – Jonny Nolan’s play-off goal at the Valley, Graham Turner and his players celebrating the spirt of ’79, Fred Davies in his coracle retrieving a match ball – these are most effective at giving a relatively new stadium a sense of history and place.

This season’s home strip also draws on the anniversary theme, with a shirt taking inspiration from the late 1950s V-neck that was squeezed over Arthur Rowley’s formidable torso whilst his goals were hammering Town to promotion from the fourth tier – the club’s first Football League honour. A retro-badge from the same era is an effective addition. Some fans have quibbled about the very dark shade of blue the shirt comes in, but for me the effect is redolent of the black-and-white photographs that define this period for Salop supporters of later generations. For blue and amber absolutists, the first change strip is amber with blue trim – something I have longed for the club to adopt as it means the players will be in club colours in most matches, both home and away.

It should be mentioned that the club’s working relationship with its kit manufacturers Oxen has been transformational in that fans now take it for granted replica shirts will be available for purchase from the club shop and on-line as soon as they are launched. The supply problems, that often meant that supporters had to patiently wait for stocks of shirts to be delivered, have been minimised not by accident but good organisation and planning.

Naturally the most important part of the summer break was the recruitment of the players that will appear in Salop’s Oxen produced colours. Gavin Cowan’s diligence in making structural changes to his squad is reflected by the signing of seven new outfield players between 5 June and 13 July. However, two of the most meaningful signatures to be added to a Salop playing contract during the break belong to individuals needing no reintroduction. Although Luca Hoole and Josh Ruffles had been offered new terms, the general expectation was that they were going to move on. In these circumstances their decision to stay at Croud Meadow seemed like two completely new signings. Cowan appeared genuinely thrilled about Hoole, saying that he had precisely the right balance of potential and experience he liked in a first teamer. Ruffles also versatility and experience to the defence, performing his duties with the unobtrusive, super-smooth efficiency of a Jeeves-like gentleman’s valet. Taylor Perry, the other out-of-contract player offered fresh terms by the club, managed to turn withholding his signature into a daytime soap-opera watched by a largely indifferent audience. After weeks of uncertainty, Cowan decided to write the character out of the script, with Perry disappearing to try his luck in Exeter.

First of the new recruits to Salop’s defensive line was Arkell Jude-Boyd, making the oft repeated journey (M5-A449-A442-A458) from Cheltenham to Shrewsbury. The Saint Lucia international made seventy-one appearances for the Robins although was finding his opportunities were increasingly limited towards the end of last season. A right sided player who has played as full-back, wing-back and in midfield, he caught the eye in the friendly against Aston Villa U21s in the wing-back role. For the first time in several seasons experimenting with formations with three centre-back, the presence of Jude-Boyd and Kevin Berkoe means that Salop has the rare luxury of a specialist wing-back option on both flanks. The other new defender is Byron Pendleton who has been signed permanently from Birmingham City. That he has yet to make his EFL debut is an indicator of the twenty-year-old’s rawness, but Cowan is fully aware of his abilities as the player was on loan at Brackley last season.

The first addition to Salop’s midfield was Isaac Fletcher, signed from Barrow for an undisclosed fee. I have been reliably informed that Fletcher was the number one target of the summer, and the club were never really thought they were going to land his signature until the contract was signed. A former Middlesbrough youth player, Fletcher joined Barrow last season after a productive spell at Spennymoor Town. With a full League Two season under his belt, in which he scored eight times with these goals coming from both feet and his head, Cowan believes he is now well equipped to make a bigger impact at this level. If the goal Fletcher scored against Aston Villa U21s typical of his play, then he will not disappoint. His signing also means that Salop now have in its squad nearly as many Isaacs as there are in the Old Testament. Another recruit to the midfield recruit is a player returning to resume his Salop career. Bringing back Jack Price was not an obvious move, but he also played at Brackley last season and Cowan believes the thirty-three-year-old has regained both the fitness and the motivation to be an influential force in the middle third. Jay Turner-Cooke joins Town after a season at FC Halifax Town, where he mainly played as a defensive midfielder. Having begun his career with Newcastle United, the twenty-two-year-old is another player Salop reportedly acquired in the face of stiff competition from several other clubs.

It is probably not very controversial to observe that goals have come at a premium for Town over the last few years. Cowan’s first attacking signing was Josh Davison, a well-travelled forward who scored against Salop for Tranmere at the opening of last season. Davison immeasurably improved his prospects of a move to Croud Meadow by going on loan at Cheltenham in the second half of the season. The twenty-six-year-old had a couple of reasonably prolific seasons (by Salop standards at least) in League Two playing centre-forward at Swindon and Wimbledon. Cowan sees the forward as full of endeavour, pace and power and is confident he will recover his goal-scoring touch. Also arriving to compete for the centre-forward position is Joe Gbode, who has joined on a season-long loan from Luton Town. The early indications is that he is a competitive performer blessed with some pace.

To share goalkeeping duties with Will Brook, Aston Villa’s England youth international Sam Proctor has arrived on a season-long loan. Proctor has looked nervous in his appearances in preseason, but there is no reason to believe that once settled in at the club his potential will be apparent.

Cowan is still looking to bring in another couple of players, although he has been keen to stress that what we have got now will serve the club well. The squad he inherited was weighted more towards experience than potential. This potential also comes from the young players that Cowan started to nurture at the end of last season once the threat of relegation had subsided. The promising midfielder Will Gray signed a new three-year contract in the summer; Isaac Lee has featured regularly in preseason friendlies; Cowan has praised Issac England for working on his fitness and strength and suggested that he is now a much more dynamic player.

The manager’s summer recruitment has been logical with clear objectives in mind. The squad does look more balanced and better equipped to play at League Two level, having more of the youth, strength and pace that has been deficient in previous years. He now feels that this group of players marries sufficient experience with plenty of potential. Asked about the size of his playing budget, Cowan was adamant that the club had given him all the tools they possibly could provide. With a base objective of Salop performing above their budget this season, the extent to which this is possible will depend on how much of the potential of his young squad Gavin Cowan can tap in the coming months.

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“If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wished for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.”

Prince Henry,

Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s Prince Henry – hero of the Bard’s depiction of the Battle of Shrewsbury – became more interested in contests that involved broadswords and long bows than football, but his reflection illuminates why the sport can inspire such loyal support, even in times of disappointment. Real satisfaction comes not from events that we can take for granted, but from those successes that are rare or hard-won. In that context, a Salop supporter’s view of the 2025-26 season depends on whether they take success at League Two level for granted, or if finishing comfortably above the relegation places was a hard-won achievement.

At the start of the season my instincts, fuelled by my copious reserves of optimism, was that a top half finish was possible, but without any expectations that there would be a serious promotion challenge. Plenty of my fellow supporters predicted that we would suffer back-to-back relegation, mirroring the experience that have befallen other clubs in our situation. In which case, those fans that expected relegation during the season should be a lot happier than I am at this point. Although, I expect they are not.

This was another season overfull of incident. It was not that long ago that seismic changes, like appointing a new manager, happened every three or four years. Now they come along at the rate of once or twice a year; this season Barrow managed to get through five without it making an iota of difference to their eventual fate. However, while the comings and goings are relentless, the plain fact is that this was a season made up of the usual forty-six league matches, interspersed with a bit of cup football. Here is my attempt to review Salop’s season in twelve league matches and a cup run.

9 August 2025: Tranmere Rovers 4, Shrewsbury Town 0.

During the summer director of football Micky Moore had given an interview to Sky Sports about his plans for Salop to have a Starmeresque reset that would lead to the club developing a new identity. The goal was a style of play that would be both attractive and distinctive – something supporters would identity with pride. Preseason had revealed a modification in style, exemplified by the goalkeeper regularly passing the ball out to a defender, with the intention of starting a move that passed the ball ‘through the thirds.’

The quest of identity began with a nil-nil draw at home to Bromley (which in retrospect looks a much better result than it did at the time). The first away match was midday kick off at Tranmere, which enticed a thousand or so Salop supporters to the Wirral. They experienced a humbling rout that made the flesh crawl. A combination of Toby Savin’s jangling nerves and confusion in the back line saw the visitors in disarray conceding two goals in the first twenty-two minutes. At half-time Michael Appleton made a triple substitution in the hope of turning the match around (two of the players hooked off were Harrison Biggins and Alex Gilliead who would end up in exile). Will Boyle managed two yellows cards in sixty seconds, and ten-man Salop eventually left the pitch to boos having conceded two more goal. This was not so much a sobering experience, as having a bucket of ice-water upturned over the head.

After the match rumours swirled that Salop’s director of football had not been at Prenton Park. A few weeks later there was an announcement that he left the club by mutual consent, for reasons not connected to football.

6 September 2025: Barnet 1, Shrewsbury Town 3.

With Micky Moore gone (but by no means forgotten), Appleton took up responsibility for filling the holes in his squad. Tommy McDermott had already arrived on loan from Burnley and when the summer window closed pacy winger Ismeal Kabia came from Arsenal on loan, along with the Peterborough striker Bradley Ihionvien.

Salop entered September having accumulated only two points, each the product of a scoreless draw. The first victory of the season came at Barnet on a sunny autumn afternoon. Salop had started brightly, but as in several earlier matches went behind to the opposition’s first attempt at goal. On this occasion, however, Town replied instantly with Ihionvien’s opportunism forcing the hosts to concede an own goal. The loanee then scored in his own name, and just before halftime Sam Clucas’ cross curled into the net and Salop had a comfortable 3-1 lead that they successfully protected for the rest of the match. A much-needed win that allowed everyone to catch their breath.

27 September 2025: Shrewsbury Town 1, Milton Keynes Dons 2.

After the win at Barnet Salop reverted to their old self, enduring dispiriting defeats against Salford at the Meadow and in torrential conditions in Harrogate. Pressure on Appleton was starting to reach an intolerable level. The franchise was highly fancied for promotion but had made a stuttering start to the season. Predictably, a visit to Shrewsbury was just what they needed to kickstart a move up the league table. Two goals down before halftime, Salop drifted for most of the came until a late Chuks Aneke strike momentarily conjured up an illusion of clawing back an undeserved point. (This was Aneke’s only goal in an amber and blue shirt; the height of folly was Salop employing a specialist impact sub – particularly one that had negligible impact.)

Fevered speculation followed the match, with some confidently reporting that Appleton was clearing his desk that evening. As things turned out he was still in post for the next match – a goalless draw in Barrow.

11 October 2025: Shrewsbury Town 2; Cambridge United 0.

Ever-present Salop supporters had seen their team play at home for 1,260 minutes without winning a match, so it was a pleasant surprise that when the elusive victory finally arrived it was a comfortable win over a team challenging for promotion. Cambridge started the game well, but the shock of George Lloyd pickpocketing a goal in the first half had the visitors reeling and their cohesion rapidly fell apart. Will Boyle doubled the lead with a headed goal from a Sam Clucas corner. Not quite knowing how to react to their team playing well, Salop fans waited for a Cambridge comeback that never materialised. True, the visitors did not perform – their coach Neil Harris said it was the worst display he had seen in 500 league matches – but Town’s performance was worthy of the win. This was the first of three home victories on the bounce – Crawley and Newport would be beaten 1-0 in the next two home matches – these two matches, however, would be split by the opening round of the FA Cup.

The draw was not particularly kind to Salop and its supporters. An away tie at South Shields – then top of National League North. The Mariners are one of the many clubs down the pyramid with aspirations to make their mark in full-time professional football and eyed an EFL club down on its luck much in the same way that French revolutionary peasants regarded a noble passing by in their carriage. This was not so much a banana skin as an elephant trap. In a midday kick-off to satisfy blood thirsty broadcasters, Salop did not play the game and came away comfortable winners with Anthony Scully scoring two including a penalty (a penalty, what with our reputation!) and Tom Sang contributing a third. The second round saw another televised away tie against non-league opposition, this time at the opposite end of the country at Sutton United. The hosts had been struggling in the National League but looked sufficiently on song with their fluid passing to have the TV pundits in raptures. Truth told, neither side really looked capable of scoring, so when Sutton took the lead with twenty minutes to go and Salop were reduced to ten-men with Josh Ruffles being sent off, a cup upset seemed certain. The match turned in time added on, Kabia unveiling his talent for the occasional wonder goal. Within minutes of the match starting thirty minutes of extra time, Marquis pilfered a second from a misdirected defensive past and Salop found themselves in the third round with an away fixture against Premier League opposition: Wolverhampton Wanderers. Between the win against Cambridge at the start of October and the draw at Walsall in early December Salop took 12 points from nine matches – a significant improvement on having taken only seven points from the first eleven matches of the season. A modest move up the league table and progress to the third round of the cup suggested that Appleton was finally starting to bring some stability to the club and was given the go-ahead for some transfer window recruitment. By the time the window opened, however, things were once again looking perilous for the head coach.

1 January 2026: Shrewsbury Town 0, Bristol Rovers 3.

Salop’s three preceding Christmas fixtures – including a humbling by Steve Cotterill’s Cheltenham – had produced not points, so the New Years’ Day clash against a Bristol Rovers side that was surprisingly struggling at the bottom of League Two. After an hour of football of maximum impotence from both teams, a chaotic blunder from Will Brook gifted Fabrizio Cavegn a goal. The remaining thirty minutes descended into a level of omnishambles seldom seen: Salop, casting caution to the wind in search of an equaliser, left sufficient holes in their defence to allow Cavegn to complete a hattrick. This was the most dispiriting day of the season, which is something given the stiff competition for this ‘accolade’.

A wintery spell saw the next match at Salford postponed and the trip to Molineux taking place with the sun reflecting off lying snow and ice and some supporters’ travel plans disrupted by train cancellations. Amidst the snow Wolves’ stadium was a green oasis of entertainment – for the home fans at least. Appleton’s team selection was as impenetrable as an econometrics equation. After an extended absence from the team Elyh Harrison replaced Brook in goal, a tactical change the head coach insisted to capitalise on Harrison’s ability to play the ball out from the back. Some you win, some you lose, and this one Salop lost to the tune of 6-1. Harrison’s error strewn performance helped Wolves to get off to a flyer, with the only moment of joy for the visitors was Marquis pulling back a goal by converting a penalty (another penalty! – you really do spoil us Mr Referee). Making only two substitutions, Appleton brought on loanee Trey Ogunsuyi (logical) and – just having returned from a month at Redditch – Jack Loughran (bizarre). I am told by a well-placed source that it was after this match that the wheels were set in motion to replace the head coach.

A vital 1-0 win over Harrogate, was followed by a 5-1 drubbing at the Franchise that shall not be named. Salop then lost a midweek match at Cambridge to a late disputed penalty, and Michael Appleton’s work at Croud Meadow was done.

31 January 2026: Shrewsbury Town 0, Barnet 0.

When Gavin Cowan was appointed as head coach (as the position then titled) the Salop social media channels internally combusted in a mixture of bewilderment and rage. There was no shortage of posters believing that this was a moment of madness that would doom the club to relegation from the EFL. One of Cowan’s first decisions was to shelve plans to ship out at least three senior players during the January window – largely to demonstrate that all in the squad was starting with a clean sheet. His first team selection comprised an outfield of players under permanent contract, drawing deeply on the experience he had inherited. A tortured defensive performance produced a tortured goalless draw – which fulfilled the objective of not starting off with a defeat. At the end of the match Cowan defiantly soaked up the negative reaction emanating from most of the home crowd. There was more defiance from the head coach after the following match – where he tried to spin a two-goal defeat as a step forward. Salop sat two points above the relegation places and needed six wins to have a reasonable chance of survival; on the way back from Essex, it was hard to see where six victories were going to come from.

10 February 2026: Shrewsbury Town 2, Barrow 1.

Cowan was starting to put his stamp on the team. For the vital match against – as they say – fellow strugglers Barrow younger players were now being blooded, with Iwan Morgan and Kevin Berkoe getting their first starts under new management. An early injury to Marquis saw him being replaced by Lloyd and the Salop captain would be side-lined for nearly two months. An understandably cagy game turned on the first ten minutes of the second half when Salop came out to the blocks sharply. Scully scored from the second phase of a Tom Sang free kick; seven minutes a Morgan long-throw saw Josh Ruffels set up Luca Hoole to double the home side’s lead. A late goal from Barrow set up a tense finish but Town notched up a deserved win from a typical lower table skirmish. The three points nudged them above Barrow in the league table and established a five-point cushion over the relegation places.

14 February 2026: Shrewsbury Town 3, Swindon Town 1.

Salop’s next match was a stern testing against second in the table Swindon – who had been going like a train for much of the season and were on a run of four consecutive wins. This match was probably the highlight of the season, as Town were superb from the moment Morgan hooked in Hoole’s cross to open the scoring. On the stroke of halftime Swindon scrambled in a deflected equaliser that might have burst Salop’s bubble. Town regained the lead just before the hour with the team’s best ‘passing football’ goal of the season: Taylor Perry to Scully to an overlapping Berkoe, whose cross was netted by the advancing Lloyd. A late goal from Nick Freeman sealed the most satisfying of victories.

24 February 2026: Salford City 1, Shrewsbury Town 2.

Salop’s improbable winning streak continued with a 1-0 victory over Notts County at the Meadow, and a comfortable away win at Accrington. Next stop was Salford, who despite having lost their last three matches, remained formidable opposition on their home turf. Neither side were interesting in producing an aesthetic advert for the beautiful game, as they were both paying due respect to their opposition. Just as Salop were eyeing up an halftime orange with the scores level, the home side scored by virtue of a deflection off Hoole. The visitors needed to dig deep to keep the winning run going, and thankfully they had remembered to bring their garden spades with them. A deserved equaliser came from a long throw-in from Morgan, that finished with Sang firing the ball into the net. Salop’s second goal came from a throw-in from Morgan, but this time a short one; Benning was able to play the ball in the box where Boyle finished like a natural striker. The self-belief that came from four successive victories was in evidence on the pitch and in the away stand. Salop withstood the final fifteen minutes (plus seven extra one) of constant pressure to chalk up an impressive victory. At the conclusion players and staff celebrated with the travelling supporters – including goalkeeping coach for the night Joe Hart. Five in a row, at the time the longest winning streak in the top four division: who would have thought it!

28 March 2026: Newport County 1, Shrewsbury Town 0.

Five in a row had propelled Salop up the table to seventeenth position and twelve points clear of the relegation places. For all the excitement of a run that earned Cowan the manager of the month award, he had not suddenly transformed this collection of players into a promotion side. The next five games produced one win – a topsy-turvy game at Chesterfield – and four defeats, three of which were comprehensive. A visit to struggling Newport County seemed ideal to get back on winning ways, all right in theory but not in practice if all the improvements that Cowan had instilled in the team suddenly disappeared. Both sides contributed amply to a football match that was devoid of any quality. Salop’s front line could not make anything of the aimless long balls that comprised the team’s attacks and there must be sticks of rotting balsa wood that had more presence than a midfield as fluffy as a Milky Way bar. A stonking Newport goal came totally out of the blue and denied Salop the questionable dignity of a goalless draw. At the final whistle a mixture of disappointment and frustration turned ugly with Cowan and his players being subjected to a tsunami of invective. Little did we realise at the time that the forty-one points that Salop had accumulated at that point were more than sufficient to avoid finishing in the bottom two at the season’s conclusion.

3 April 2026: Shrewsbury Town 1, Tranmere Rovers 0.

After Newport Cowan shook up his squad and was rewarded with a deserved home victory over Tranmere on Good Friday. After an understandably cagy first half, Salop clicked into action from the start of the second period produced a well worked goal from a quickly taken throw-in: Morgan playing the ball into the box, Marquis deftly supplying Berkoe, who made the cross that Sam Stubbs acrobatically headed home. Town had plenty of chances to extend their lead, but as on so many occasions during the season won by defending a one goal advantage: over a third of Salop’s league points came from 1-0 home wins.

There was some cruel irony that the victory that took Town to the brink of safety was against Tranmere who had administered a near soul-destroying 4-0 drubbing eight months previously. Anyone that had witnessed the match at Prenton Park would have nominated Salop as the team that would be in danger of relegation on the final day. In the event it was Tranmere that had to go through that ordeal to survive – just!

2 May 2026: Gillingham 1, Shrewsbury Town 0.

Mathematical safety came with another 1-0 home win, this time against Oldham. Cowan had indicated that once Salop’s EFL place was secure he would give the up-and-coming young players a chance to demonstrate what they were capable of. Will Gray and Isaac Lee were eased into the starting line-up, Will Brook started in goal and Issac England was given some minutes. By the final game at Gillingham the match day squad had been largely pruned of the players that were going to be released. Hugo Aiston – another academy player with plenty of potential – was brought in in the final minutes of the season to become Salop’s youngest first team player.

For a season that had on many occasions been as tedious as work, the final game was played out in solar powered optimism. A win would have pushed Salop above Gillingham in the league table, which given the identity of the Kent club’s manager, was a bigger deal than it appears on the surface. The visitors played well, but the performance highlighted the reason why they had struggled for most of the season: a shortage of goals. This was no more evident than when Marquis blasted the ball over the bar to squander Salop’s best chance of the match. Many have pointed out that the team captain had been absent during the ‘five-in-a-row’ winning streak; equally he was also absent during the following slump in form, which clearly suggests that he was not the sole culprit for the team’s lack of firepower.

In a final twist, the recipient of most of the club’s player of the season awards, Luca Hoole, made a defensive error that led to Gillingham snatching an undeserved win. Not that it really mattered – Salop’s place in League Two had been secured a lot more comfortably than many fans expected.

If asked to give my highlight of the season I will cheat: my highlight was the breathless fifteen days in February when five wins in a row lifted Salop out of the more desperate skirmishes of the relegation dogfight. This was a run of results that included implausible victories over three clubs that were in contention for promotion up to the last day of the season: Swindon Town, Notts County and Salford City. To what degree was this purple patch a rare accident, that is accident in the positive sense of word: a random event that occurred without apparent cause or specific design.

Where chance most played a part was the appointment of Gavin Cowan. There was no reason to expect that changing manager would lead to a spectacular change in form and there was a fair amount of serendipity, not least the injury to Marquis that forced a reconsideration of attacking options. The most important thing about embarking of a run of results were everything went right was that it bought Cowan breathing space. The widespread scepticism about his appointment could have made it very difficult for the new head coach to establish himself; instead, his stock steadily rose with supporters. However, the hostility unleashed towards him at Newport hints of what might have happened if results had not improved.

Another consideration is how much this run was the result of shrewd recruitment in the January transfer window. Of the players that arrived at Croud Meadow in the first month of the years, three were instrumental in the improvement in results: Iwan Morgan, Matt Cox and Kevin Berkoe. Nick Freeman also figured in some vital matches. The fact that some of the loan players disappointed was due to the sheer quantity of them. Of the loanees, Ismeal Kabia did very well when considering he played out of position; Tommy McDermott had his moments; Bradley Ihionvien’s opportunities were limited by a severe injury. The others found their involvement limited by the regulations governing their involvement. So how much of the recruitment was due to skill and how much was due to luck – it depends on how well you believe Tom Ware utilised the data.

One final observation that might surprise. Salop’s survival was on a foundation that has been a feature of the more successful Town sides: a solid defensive record at the Meadow. No team in the division surpassed the ten clean sheets that Salop managed in their twenty-three home fixtures. For all the woes of recent seasons, Town managed to perform consistently in front of their own supporters – just as well given that the team had the second worst away record in the league. As noted above, six home victories were 1-0 wins which were so fragile that a single defensive error could have been very costly. There was no shortage of fans critical of the club’s summer recruitment of experienced centre-backs to play a three at the back formation. Narrowing the pitch for the benefit of the defenders was widely ridiculed. Yet, the fact that Salop’s survival was largely due to a good defensive record offers one startling conclusion: in this regard Micky Moore’s policy worked!

For all the uncertainties about the club’s future ownership, Shrewsbury Town finished the 2025-26 season in the lower reaches of League Two, but with a feeling that a measure of the stability needed to start a reconstruction has returned. Having signed a contract extension Gavin Cowan, seems secure in place and has the time to attempt to fulfil his vision for the club. However, he will recognise that standing still is effectively going backwards; there is no guarantee that a strong defence will always compensate for a lack of goals. Improvements are required if Salop’s dependence on rare accidents is to be eradicated.

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This is the time of the year when the extremes of being a professional footballer are acutely visible. While the favoured few have winners’ and runners-up medals around their necks, a marginally larger number of players are taking part in the adrenaline fuelled post-marathon sprint that is the playoffs. For most professionals, however, more a more important matter is on their minds: their immediate job prospects and having the means to pay the mortgage and domestic bills.

Very few football civilians will experience the stresses of having their personal and professional futures being a matter of public debate. We have a privilege not afforded to the players: our job appraisals are private – a process conducted in the privacy of an interview room involving only employee and employer. As many will no doubt point out, being involved in a public facing business means that subject to a wide scrutiny comes with the territory – enjoying the rewards of being a professional sports player will also involve some costs, lows that are a just compensation for enjoying career highs. Fair enough, but as fans we should respect the personal dignity of individual players regardless of our views on what they have contributed on the pitch.

In the week in between Salop’s last league match of the season and the club announcing its retained list, there was much speculation about whether it would signal a clear-out of much of the squad, or a more nuanced exercise of keyhole surgery. I inclined toward the latter view, feeling that financial considerations would dictate evolution rather than revolution. The published list comes somewhere between the two.

Of the players out of contract who are leaving the club, one name stands out: club captain John Marquis. The striker has not been the most popular of Salop players – at times, his standing has seemed similar to a jar of marmite visibly past its use by date. From many accounts, with his family happily settled in the town, he was desperate for a new deal so avoiding a disruptive move. It did appear that a decision on his future was a borderline one – the offer of a one-year contract would not have surprised me much – but his release is the right decision. Although his six goals made him the club’s top scorer, only three of them came in league games. Tellingly, injury meant that he was only on the field for fourteen minutes of Salop’s purple patch of five wins in five/six wins in seven. For all his experience and good intentions, he had not done enough on the pitch to justify a new deal.

Much the same is true of three other players released. Mal Benning became a peripheral figure under Michael Appleton and while Gavin Cowan praised the defender’s professionalism it was soon clear that the new head coach saw him surplus to requirements. Anthony Scully contributed five goals including a real cracker at Oldham and a well taken winner at home to Newport. At times he showed hints of the quality that had marked his early career, but for a player that came with a reputation of being injury prone his fitness continued to be suspect. Nick Freeman joined as a free agent in the January window, scored a goal in Salop’s impressive victory over Swindon, and now moves on. Harrison Biggins and Alex Gilliead leave the club after departure lounge loans at Newport and Carlisle, respectively.

With several young players blooded in the first team over the final games of the season, there is no surprise that some academy products lower down the pecking order move on to establish a career elsewhere: Joe Morris, Karsten Cairns, Isaac Godwin and Jack Loughran (a surprise substitute in the FA Cup tie at Molineux).

The out of contract players that have offered a new deal are multiple fans’ award winner Luca Hoole, Josh Ruffels and Taylor Perry. Most Salop supporters would want to see Hoole and Ruffels back in amber and blue shirts next season, but such is the paradox of these situations, wanting to retain a player will mean that they are good enough to be of interest to other clubs. The fact that these players have not signed straightaway means both are considering their options and if they stay it will feel like a bonus. Perry has not signed his deal either and there will be individuals familiar in Block 17 that are crossing their fingers that other clubs are interested. George Lloyd, without much fanfare, has signed a new two-year contract. Some have suggested that the new deal may be due to an option in the expired contract, but these options usually trigger a one-year extension. Cowan’s comments about the player suggest that he has seen enough potential in Lloyd’s abilities to be a reliable goal scorer; given the length of his new deal, we can only hope that this potential is tapped.

The number of players currently under contract has restricted the club’s room for manoeuvre. Transfer listing players may create more room to bring in new recruits, but unless other clubs are interested the chances are that it will lead the costs of paying up their contracts. It was clear on consistency of performance that Tom Anderson was below Will Boyle and Sam Stubbs in the pecking order and is victim to last year’s over-investment in sedate centre backs. Few would dispute that Sam Clucas showed flashes of the skills that saw him play at premier league level. Unfortunately, his aging legs limited his effectiveness in his preferred midfield position, so he spent most of his appearances as a wingback; he suffered from being a round peg in a square hole and a round peg not big enough to fill the round hole. Calum Stewart has not developed and having been on loan at Brackley under Gavin Cowan, Salop’s head coach will be confident in his decision to move the striker on. The same applies Richardo Dinanga. May Micky Moore’s player trading model rest in peace.

By the end of the season Salop had acquired seven players on loan. The drawback of having a such a large contingent was that opportunities needed to be shared round and individual loanees did not get the game time to show what they could do. Of those recruited in the summer window, the pick was Ismeal Kabia even though he was rarely allowed to use his pace as a wide attacker. With circumstances leading to him being used mainly as a wingback, he was reasonably effective and looked to be enjoying his taste of first team football. Tommy McDermott was a more mercurial player, never quite managing to secure a regular starting place. Like Kabia he seemed to fit into the squad well and scored a wonderful debut goal at Oldham, although it did not prove to be a winner. Bradley Ihoinvien made a big impact in Salop’s first win of the season at Barnet, but his loan was blighted by an injury that put him out of action for several months.

The January window saw the arrival of Iwan Morgan, Matthew Cox, Trey Ogunsuyi and Temple Ojinnaka. Morgan and Cox were key players in the run of victories that lifted Salop out of the relegation dogfight: in goal Cox produced several key saves that preserved vital clean sheets; Morgan had an energetic enthusiasm that produced three goals and a succession of dangerous long throw-ins. Ogunsuyi and Ojinnaka had few opportunities to impress, sitting on the side lines due the limit of on the number of loanees that can be involved in a single match.

Loans allow clubs like Salop to pick up players of potential in a cost-effective way, although depends on the loanees being regulars in the match day squad. This season the club seemed to be using loans to try and fill the gaping holes in an unbalanced squad. In his squad rebuilding Cowan needs to use loans strategically to compliment his recruitment of contract players and ensure that they can, barring injury, contribute to the first team for the whole of their loan period.

The retained list is only the opening move in the process of building an effective squad of players. It is a process that can only be judged by answering the key question: are the players coming in better than the ones they have replaced, and the answer to that will only be revealed in the future. However, Cowan is aware that the rebuilding is not just about signing players but also one requiring change in outlook, culture and atmosphere. For a club that needs to pull out of the drift that has been generated by the decline of recent seasons, the restoration of positivity and purpose is essential to a revival on the pitch.

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Gillingham: Morris; Smith; Masterson; Gale (Williams 36’); Clark; Little; McKenzie; Hutton; Dack (McCleary 65’); Hale [Y]; Vokes (Palmer-Houlden 74’).

Unused substitutes: Akomeah; Booth; Khumbeni; Turner.

Scorer: McCleary (90’+2).

Shrewsbury: Brook; Ruffels; Boyle; Lee (Hoole 71’); Berkoe; Perry [Y]; Gray [Y] (England 71’); Sang; Morgan (Aiston 87’); Marquis (McDermott 72’); Lloyd (Ihionvien 71’).

Unused substitutes: Cox; Stubbs.

Match officials: Referee – Mr D Rock; Assistants – Mr A Bennett & Mr D Pilling; Fourth – Mr J Block.

Attendance: 6,145.

The Supporters’ Awards Night was a jolly evening, even if I did not have a raffle prize under my arm when I took my leave of the Sovereign Suite. Luca Hoole swept up most of the awards, to such an extent that Stuart Dunn ran out of questions for him and ended up asking the defender whether he liked pub quizzes. (A noble pursuit, as my fellow ‘Townies’ will attest.) Now there is a section of Salop’s support base that insist that awards are for wimps. Some are of the opinion that unless the club has won the Champions League, the players should be grateful to have the chance of a safe passage over the English Bridge before walking to their new employers in National League South. My feeling, for what it is worth, is that whatever you think of your club’s squad of players, they are the best ones you have at any moment in time. As a supporter it is important to encourage them – to coin a phrase – to be the best versions of themselves. The alternative is that they can easily sink into being the worst versions of themselves, which does not help anyone. So, I am quite happy to vote for my ‘player of the season’ – even if it is an open invitation for other clubs to poach them.

Salop’s 2025-26 journey ended with a visit to club that had, in a state of acute embarrassment, decided to dispense with their end of season awards – Gillingham. At the midpoint of club’s two-year plan to gain promotion to League One, the Gills had experienced a season of regression. Having finished the last campaign seventeenth in the league table with fifty-eight points, the Kent club would finish at best in the same position in the division and certainly end up with fewer league points. That is quite an achievement at a club reputed to have a top seven playing budget.

Doing my pre-match research on Gillingham I was surprised to find that their current manager is the same one that walked out on Salop last March. The surprise was not that I did not know the Ersatz Proud Salopian had gone over the fence to the green grass of the Garden of England, but that he was still in employment there. To be fair to the EPS – not something that comes easily – earlier in the season he had to take time off for heart surgery, which is a big mitigating factor. Happily, the man in black is back in the technical again having made a robust recovery and, given his determination to get back into the fray, it would have been uncomfortably harsh to have then give him his marching orders.

When the fixtures came out in June, this match stood out a mile. It seemed almost impossible for this to be a final day fixture that would not have a great deal riding on it. Salop fans might have fantasied about the possibility of beating Gillingham so to deny them promotion. At several points in the season, blue and amber fans might have feared that preserving EFL status would require picking up points in a pressure cooker atmosphere. What few expected is that it would be one of the most lifeless of dead rubber fixtures, with Salop comfortably safe and the Gills promotion credentials having crumbled to dust. Except for Town supporters it was far from being a meaningless last match of the season: a win would provide the Pyrrhic satisfaction of finishing above Gillingham in the final League Two table.

Salop fans had travelled in numbers, many in traditional end-of-season costume. There were various animal suits on display – for some reason inflatable snakes were popular. If I was doling out prizes, my final short list would certainly include the inflatable beer can (hopefully not full of gassy Welsh lager) and the young man that had come as a cone of French fries. As I queued for entry to Priestfield, the stewards were very patient in searching supporters considering all the costumery made their duties even more demanding. Recent events had caused Gillingham to tighten their admission protocols for this match. It should always be remembered that the heighted vigilance does not come from ‘jobsworth stewarding’ but, in these uncertain times, a desire that people can attend public events firm in the knowledge that they will be in a safe environment.

Major Cowan’s team selection took full advantage of this being a Bank Holiday weekend. With the schools having a one-day holiday on Monday, there was the freedom to include in his squad the best of the talent out of the Salop academy, fresh from the club’s under-18’s taking the EFL Youth Alliance League North West Division championship midweek. (The winners’ medals must be enormous given the length of the competition’s name.) So, Will Gray retained his starting place, and Isacc England was on the bench alongside a fifteen-year-old new talent with an old name – Hugo Aiston. It was noticeable that some of the club’s old talent and several loanees had disappeared into the end-of-season ether.

In the starting eleven Will Boyle returned at the expense of Tom Anderson and Sam Stubbs dropped to the bench with his place in the back three going to Josh Ruffels. With Ismeal Kabia out with an injury, Tom Sang replaced him at right wingback. Right from the off Salop showed a clear intent to seize control of the game with high levels of energy and commitment. It was very evident that they were trying to end this seasons’ journey with a victory. It is not often that I can put as sharp a point on it as this: they played very well throughout the match. That they did not sign off the season with a win was down to what we have all witnessed over forty-six league matches – a failure to make the most of their opportunities in the final third of the pitch.

Salop attacked effectively but come the final ball it was either a delivery into the box that failed to find a well-placed attacker, or a good ball in that ultimately failed to hit the target. Of sixteen shots over the ninety minutes five were on target. (The Gills managed six shots, with one going into the net and one being saved by Will Brook.) Iwan Morgan struck at long-range forcing Glenn Morris into a save, and on his next run cut inside through two defenders his shot to hit the post; Ruffels headed a cross from Sang over the bar; John Marquis made a tremendous run on the break only to end up firing the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy; just after being introduced as a substitute Tommy McDermott made an impressive run, only for his lobbed effort to go narrowly wide. Bradley Inionvien was also brought on in the second and made a lively impression in attack – members of his family were sitting just along from me and every time their boy attacked with the ball were in a state of excitement that was less concealed as he approached the target.

With twenty minutes left the Major had made a triple substitution bringing on McDermott, Issac England and Luca Hoole to try and snatch the game. As the clock counted down Hugo Aiston became the club’s youngest ever first-teamer; but for an extra inch of curls, he is the spitting image of his father. With Hoole’s contract up at the end of June, this match could be his last appearance for the club, so it was a great shame that it was his misplaced pass that allowed Garath McCleary to break away and snatch the win with a well taken goal. Well, that is football for you. There have not been many occasions this season when Salop have lost a game that they should have won, so even with the bitter conclusion the performance represented some of the progress that has been made under Gavin Cowan.

Salop’s 2025-26 journey ended with encouragement – particularly from the emergence of some young players that look to have great potential – wrapped up in a final deflating disappointment. After the final whistle the Salop players and staff had a warm acknowledgement from their travelling supporters – a lot friendlier than the reception they got after the last 1-0 away defeat at Newport. John Marquis went down a line of supporters shaking their hands whilst looking as though he had tears in his eyes. For some of the players this match will be the end of their Salop journey: we wish them well for their next challenge. After offering our farewells – in most cases just for now – it was time to go back to the car, dodging the Gillingham supporters that had the smug smile of a bald man holding the comb that they had just won in a fight. As I retreated, there was one thought in my mind. This might have been the day when Gareth Ainsworth slipped into Salop’s past and the rest of us stepped into Gavin Cowan’s future. One can but dream – this is football after all.

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Shrewsbury: Brook; Lee; Anderson (Ruffels 56’); Stubbs; Berkoe (Benning 67’); Perry; Gray [Y] (England 67’); Kabia; Morgan; Marquis (McDermott 56’); Lloyd (Ihionvien 67).

Unused substitutes: Cox; Sang.

Scorers: Ruffels (72’); Kabia (90’+6).

Fleetwood: Lynch; Potter; Bolton; Holgate; Neal; Powell; Ennis (Cirino 89’ [Y]); McLean (Helm 63’); Bonds (Morrison 89’); Davies [Y]; Coughlan (Devonport 76’).

Unused substitutes: Davies; Hewitson; Osong.

Scorers: Perry (40’ og); McLean (59’).

Match officials: Referee – Mr H Blair; Assistants – Mr J Clench & Mr J Tewson; Fourth – Mr S Fudge.

Attendance: 5,665.

Last week, after receiving nearly a postbag full of reminders, I finally got round to booking my annual eye test. (It is surprising just how many Salop supporters need to wear glasses.) This was not without some frustration, as I managed to experience what we used to call a ‘hissy-fit’ upon finding out that no appointments were available until May. April has passed so quickly that I failed to realise that a May appointment was only just over a week away. It just shows how quickly the football season has rattled to a conclusion.

The day of Salop’s final home match against Fleetwood Town dawned with the prospect of being a faux summer day of sufficient temperature to warrant the first excursion of the year wearing shorts. The day before I had enjoyed watching a day of county cricket at New Road, Worcester, (which in a sponsorship deal with the local tourist board is officially known as ‘Visit Worcestershire New Road’), where sitting in the bleachers for over seven hours had given my face a gammon-coloured tinge. It is necessary for me to report that for the first time ever in my time as a sports spectator I had a personal item confiscated by stewards, when their bag search revealed I was in possession of metal camping cutlery. Fortunately, they had a supply of packets of ‘Food Grade Biodegradable Wooden Cutlery & Napkin Sets’ manufactured by Utopia, so I did not have to eat a tuna pasta salad with my fingers. Walking away from the bag search table I loudly proclaimed: “Good job you didn’t spot my smoke flares”, a witticism that I fear did not find much appreciation with the Worcestershire Cricket Stewardry.

Readers can be reassured that I did not try and prove a point by smuggling the metal cutlery into Croud Meadow (‘Visit Shropshire Meadow’ anyone?), but as I queued behind a Fleetwood fan wearing a large inflatable fish it was a matter of some regret that I did not have a sharp metal implement in my possession. Football fans in costume is another indicator of a season ending, and the group of rowdy Fleetwood fans were dressed in accordance with a Cod Army theme. Given that their owner Andy Pilley remains detained at His Majesty’s pleasure after being convicted of multiple frauds, a costume decorated with broad arrows and an inflatable ball and chain might be more appropriate – but that is just another of my eccentric witticisms.

Major Cowan entered the end-of-season spirit with his team selection, the starting eleven being all Salop contract players bar Ismeal Kabia and Iwan Morgan. Will Brook was given an opportunity to show his capabilities ‘between the sticks’; Tom Anderson came in for Will Boyle who was absence for family reasons; Will Gray and Isaac Lee continued with their gentle introduction to first team football and George Lloyd was restored to a place in the front two alongside John Marquis. Late in the week it had been announced that Mal Benning would be leaving the club at the conclusion of his contract, and the full back was on the bench no doubt in anticipation of a brief final farewell to the home supporters. Also at hand for a final farewell was Salop’s Official Matchday Programme – RIP old friend, it was a pleasure and a privilege to have been a contributor.

The confirmation that Benning was being released and indicates that the season now has only days to run. There will be much speculation about the composition of the club’s retained list, although my hunch is that fans hoping for a massive clear-out will be disappointed. Substantial squad reconstructions are a luxury afforded to football clubs that shop at Harrods; Salop are still going to be bargain hunting at the car boot sales (although, hopefully not the antique markets). All the hints from the Major seem to me to be suggesting that recruitment will be more rebalancing the squad than a total rebuild, since at this level rebuilds without the resources to recruit quality superior to that already possessed are invariably a relatively expensive way of standing still.

One hour into the match I was constructing in my mind a sketch that was an extended vilification of the referee, Mr Harrison Blair. How the vetting process for this match official did not trigger several red-and-yellow flags is a mystery beyond the comprehension of any master detective that could be mentioned. With the first half having meandered like a forty-minute country ramble, Fleetwood made an attack down their right and Elliot Bond supplied a cross that striker Will Davies headed against the bar, a goal attempt only made possible by a two-handed shove on Sam Stubbs strong enough to almost send the centre back sprawling. Immediately the ball was back kicked into the danger area, where it bounced off Taylor Perry into the goal. The Salop players looked in vain for Mr Blair to award them a free kick, but the official was pointing to the centre spot having given the goal. Salop supporters move swiftly from a state of bewilderment to expressions of anger generated by rank incompetence from the referee.

The second half opened with Salop making a determined effort to get back into the game, but when a goal came it was scored by Fleetwood; a clinical finish from Crispin McLean having been supplied by a quality cross from Ethan Ennis. The home supporters seemed to become resigned to their season at the Meadow ending with a particularly damp squib, and in Block 17 people were thinking aloud about making an early exit. Any fan that decided on that course of action missed a climax to the match that was a real piece of magic that perfectly matched the tag line of that television magician of yesteryear, Paul Daniels: “You’ll like this – not a lot – but you’ll like it”.

Salop made a laboured effort to cut Fleetwood’s lead that was finally rewarded on seventy-two minutes when substitute Josh Ruffels was able to slot the ball home after a knock down from a corner kick. The home side pushed for an equaliser, although without suggesting one was imminent. Having used up all their substitutes, when Lee required treatment for an injury, he had to remain on the pitch and completed his first full ninety minutes of league football in obvious discomfort. Mr Blair added a scarcely credible eight minutes to allow for stoppages, and on a day marked by several 90+ goals, Salop produced an absolute screamer of one. When Ismeal Kabia was been loaned to Shrewsbury he was described as a player possessing an incredible turn of pace. With the need for him to play at wing back we have probably not witnessed him at his best, but if this does prove to be his last match at the Meadow in a Town shirt, he signed off with a goal that will live long in the memory. Salop had been awarded a free kick deep into the shadow of the Salop Leisure stand. Morgan’s delivery was easily defended by the visitors, but a sloppy clearance allowed Kabia to run onto the ball and instinctively fire a thirty-yard shot that rifled into the top corner of the net. The only movement made by goalkeeper made was a shrug that communicated to his teammates a simple message: how was he expected to save that.

The home side might have won the match, a late effort by Mal Benning being saved. However, Salop had done sufficient to draw a game they should never have lost and boosted the mood of the home support and made the after match ‘Lap of Appreciation’ more a pleasurable exercise than it might have been. So that wraps it up at the Meadow for another season; all that remains is the most meaningful of meaningless matches where a victory will see Town finish above the Ersatz Proud Salopian’s Gillingham (if he has not been relieved of his duties after their 6-2 drubbing at Barnet). At New Road we chatted to a Gillingham supporter that described his hometown as the compost heap of the Garden of England and, God willing, I will be there sketching the final match of Salop’s season – although this might be published a little later than usual.

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Crawley: Chapman; L Richards (Pereira 77’); Malone [Y]; Barker; A Adeyemo; Watson; Copley; Williams (T Richards 77’); Forster; T Adeyemo (Loft 70’); McKirdy (Russell 72’).

Unused substitutes: Odimayo; Wollacott.

Shrewsbury: Cox; Ruffels; Boyle; Lee (Anderson 76’); Berkoe; Perry (Freeman 75’); Gray (Scully 71’); Kabia; Morgan; Marquis (Lloyd 71’); Ihionvien (Sang 46’ [Y]);

Unused substitutes: Brook; Stubbs.

Match officials: Referee – Mr C Hicks; Assistants – Mr M Webb & Mr A Cresswell; Fourth – Mr K Sear.

Attendance: 3,602.

“Please be gentle with us – our need is much greater than yours!”

Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium sits just off a traffic island that is decorated with a large red and white football. It is possible to park up in a nearby residential area and get to the ground through an underpass adjacent to this piece of civic art. Walking through a tunnel decorated with sub-Banksy wall art, we exchanged friendly words with local supporters, who expressed concerns that could be neatly summarised in the opening phrase.

A few weeks ago, this fixture seemed likely to be a significant punch-up in the League Two relegation battle. As things turned out Salop managed – Houdini like – to slip out of the chains of and sack of danger; Crawley, however, are still writhing round trying to extricate themselves from these fetters. The idea that Salop might be perceived as a force of titanic strength whose opponents beg for leniency struck me as being absurd, until one of the Crawley fans triggered a memory from the dim and recent past. Town’s last visit to the Broadfield was a 5-2 humbling of the Red Devils – the only instance when this Crawley supporter had been so disgusted with his team’s performance that he left before the end of the match. In an act of extreme meanness, I did not offer the comfort of telling him that Salop scoring five goals in a match was as rare as a blue-and-amber moon.

Four years ago, Crawley were taken over by WAGMI United LLC, a consortium of American cryptocurrency investors. The new owners eschewed a ‘conventional approach’:

“We’re going to shake up the status quo, try out some new ideas, and build a worldwide community of fans new and old that can be excited to cheer on the Red Devils together - stretching from West Sussex to anywhere in the world with an internet connection.”

Shaking up the status quo saw a gyration in fortunes over the next three seasons: finishing twenty-second in League Two; a seventh-place finish and promotion to League One through the playoffs; immediate relegation back to League Two after finishing twenty-first. During this summer Crawley’s co-owner Preston Johnson, who was also the club’s chief executive, resigned in protest about a change in recruitment strategy. This foreshadowed a shake-up in ownership with KB Sports and Leisure Limited, a smaller grouping formed by some members of the previous consortium, executing a majority buyout. Leader of the new ownership syndicate, Raphael Khalili suggested a return to a more conventional approach:

“This club has an incredibly loyal fanbase and a rich identity, and we’re committed to building something truly special, something sustainable, ambitious and rooted in the community. Our vision is to create a modern football club that balances on-pitch success with long-term stability. We will invest in infrastructure, prioritise data and innovation, and ensure Crawley Town is a club that reflects the values and energy of its supporters.”

With three matches to go Crawley sat two points off the League Two relegation places.

The continuing saga of musical chairs in the club boardroom involving teams of foreign investors obscures the values and energy of its supporters. Entering the stadium, I encountered something that I was not expecting: a programme seller. There had been no matchday programme for last season’s game – something I pointed out the vendor. “Yes,” he told me. “The club discontinued the programme because it lost them money. This season the supporters are producing our own, with plenty of reading and no advertising, and we are making a profit.” With Salop likely to do away with their printed programme next season, I wonder if our supporters might respond with a similar energy.

Town are now navigating the period of zero jeopardy that sits in between the point where matches cease to have much significant meaning in league terms and the end of the season. As Major Cowan hinted once League Two safety had been assured, this would mean giving opportunities to players on the fringe of the first team. Against Oldham Will Gray was given his first league start; now young centre-back Issac Lee was making his debut playing on the left side of Will Boyle in the place of Sam Stubbs. Otherwise, the starting line-up had only one other change from the Tranmere match: Taylor Perry starting in midfield at the expense of Temple Ojinnaka.

The context of this match was shaped by one of the results from the early kick-offs. Barrow had gone down to a defeat that would keep them in the relegation zone till next Saturday at least. Consequently, Crawley were in a position where it was more important that they did not lose rather than needing to gamble nearly everything on forcing a win. A team that cannot risk defeat against a team with only pride as a motivation: there is only one real outcome from this type of contest, and it almost certainly does not contain seven goals.

The home side came out like a greyhound running through mud: plenty of effort and intent but not making very much progress. They were determined to stifle Salop as an attacking force, but in concentrating on this aim they were not allowing themselves the freedom to really hurt their opposition. The visitors were showing levels of relaxation and patience that is usually found in someone lying horizontally on a couch. With the threat of relegation totally gone, Salop seemed to be striving to reproduce the confident passing that had figured in the opening stages of the match at Bromley. When in possession the visitors passed the ball expansively across the middle third but, with both wing backs unable to get forward with much attacking purpose, this became an exercise in probing for space that rarely materialised.

Being unable to break down the home side’s defensive barrier, Salop’s attacks largely came with opportunities on the break, but these tended to break down with the strikers struggling to get forward quick enough from a deep position. Yet again Town where not getting many fifty-fifty decisions from the referee, with the inevitable outcome that John Marquis’ frustration levels started to climb. Every so often he gave the match officials the sort of look that his children must get when they have the temerity to place a red plastic hotel on the dark blue square of Park Lane.

There was the irony that Crawley’s dominance of possession probably made it harder for them to force a result. Unable to get forward with any regularity Salop frequently had most of their players behind the ball, with the consequence that the home side’s attacks rarely ended with a clear-cut scoring opportunity that challenged Matt Cox to any degree. Allowing the game to become a bit more open had an element of risk to it, but this might have given the home side more of a chance of scoring. As it was this was a match rather more memorable for an inflatable paddling pool being tossed around the away terrace rather than anything that happened on the pitch.

For Salop both Gray and Lee did not look out of place. The central defender must have been nervous and in the opening few minutes his first touches failed to find a teammate, but he got into his stride and showed much competence in defending the aerial ball. One misjudgement in the second half saw Lee concede possession on the edge of the area and the home side set up Lewis Richards for one of the few clear shooting opportunities of the match; blushes were spared as Cox got his body solidly behind the attempt at goal. Gavin Cowan made four substitutions in the final twenty minutes, but none was able to produce any attacking momentum. The visitors were not hanging on as such, but the seven minutes added to the ninety were more jittery for the travelling supporters than they really need to have been.

Salop will now finish no lower than nineteenth in the league table, looking down on a relegation battle that sees five clubs, separated by only two points, still under threat of losing their EFL status. This was only the second draw for Salop since the Major’s first game in charge against Barnet. The point Crawley collected might prove to be very important in the relegation fight, but the reason Salop are now safe is that they when presented with the opportunity of getting a result they picked up three points rather than one.

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Shrewsbury: Cox; Ruffels; Boyle; Stubbs; Berkoe; Gray (Freeman 79’); Perry; Kabia; Morgan [Y] (Scully 85’); Marquis; Ihionvien (Lloyd 80’).

Unused substitutes: Anderson; Benning; Brook; McDermott.

Scorer: Boyle (30’).

Oldham: Hudson; Robson; Monthe; Daniels (Simeu 57’); Sutton; Woods; Pett; Hawkes (Jalo [Y] 63’); Payne (Garner 46’ [Y]); Drummond; Fondop-Talom.

Unused substitutes: Donaghy; Taylor; Hammond; Leake.

Match officials: Referee – Ms E Heaslip; Assistants – Mr T Harty & Mr S Durnall; Fourth – Mr T Walker.

Attendance: 6,609.

Easter EFL fixtures. ✓

The start of the county cricket championship. ✓

The University Boat Race (with yet again the same two finalists). ✓

A couple of days of unseasonably warm Spring temperatures. ✓

The Grand National. ✓

Loads of promotion hype about the team from the Lager Capital of Wales. ✓

It is beginning to look a lot like the finale of the football season, which for me cannot come quick enough – apart from the times when I am thinking about the forthcoming Infantino World Cup in the Disunited States of TRUMP-land, which sees me hoping that the season will never end.

However, before letting the mind wander off into the summer, let us take a leaf out of Major Cowan’s football manual and focus on the present. Coming into the penultimate home match a Croud Meadow most Salop fans were in a state of disgruntled satisfaction. There would have been a no more stylish way of securing mathematical safety from relegation than by taking three points off the league leaders. Given that Salop rarely does anything with elan, taking three points off the league leaders is exactly the sort of thing that the club does not engage in. So, Salop grasping copper-bottom EFL safety in front of its own supporters required a positive result against Oldham Athletic.

The unpredictability of League Two is clear from the latest ten match form table. The three teams in the automatic promotion places – Bromley, the Franchise that shall not be named and Notts County – sit fourth, sixth and seventh in this table. In first and second positions are Bristol Rovers and Oldham who have respectively dropped five and seven points out of the last thirty. Oldham’s late season surge has seen rise from lower mid-table to within three points of the play-off places has shown that their veteran manager has still got plenty to offer football. Micky Mellon – who in his two-and-a-half-year stint as Salop manager guided his team into League One – has a real shot at taking the Latics to back-to-back playoff promotions.

Affable as ever, Mellon was quick to generously applaud the Salop supporters around him when he made his way to the technical area. If there was any rancour about his departure from the Meadow ten years ago it has not reached the public domain, and he has always been generous to the fans of his former club. As the Major said in his press conference, we wish him the best of luck for the rest of the season – starting from the end of this match.

The Major had been unexpectedly hard on his team after the narrow defeat at Bromley, so there was little surprise that he made changes to his starting eleven. In the back three, Will Boyle returned after his rest and took the place of Tom Anderson; there was also changes in central midfield with Taylor Perry and Will Gray replacing Nick Freeman and Temple Ojinnaka. Gray, only just seventeen years old, was making his first EFL start before Salop had mathematically secured their league status for next season.

The away stand appeared packed to the roof girders with Oldham fans, hardly surprising given the run of results that has pushed them into playoff contention. From the start of the match, they were intent to roar their team on to victory. Salop fans have always regarded over enthused support as being tantamount to cheating, so they engaged in their usual pursuit of giving John Marquis a tough time. The Town captain readily obliged his audience by not chasing through balls with any conviction and giving teammates a hard stare whenever their ball to him was not precisely to his liking. Welcome back skipper!

At least when Marquis is getting stick, it does mean that Salop are getting the ball forward regularly and on this occasion the home side were doing all right in that regard, even if they were not producing many clear-cut chances. The visitors looked confident and knocked the ball around well, but other than a Kai Payne effort in front of goal that he blasted comically wide were not really creating very much. Pulling the strings in midfield for the Latics was Town youngster of yore Ryan Woods. The years have robbed Ryan of the lithe figure of his Salop days, and his upper body now has the timber of a beer barrel. The old skill is still there: from his favoured territory in the centre of the park, he sprays the ball around like a water sprinkler and stands over the dead ball transmitting waves of ominous menace.

The first half hour saw plenty of effort, but little of note until the home side seized on the opportunity offered by a set piece. From a long free kick into the box, the ball came back to Perry who knocked it back towards goal where Boyle executed a flicked header that floated between past Matt Hudson and the inside of the post and – much to the surprise of most observers – landed in the net. For the third consecutive match Salop had scored first, and on this occasion avoided the error at Bromley of scoring too early.

In response to going behind the away supporters simply upped the noise. Salop fans braced themselves for Oldham’s response, but for the rest of the first half it was the home side that was clearly in the ascendancy. Kabia raced up the left flank and played in Kevin Berkoe, only for the wing back to fire the ball high and wide. Salop should really have doubled their lead in the one minute added on for stoppages; catching Oldham on the break Bradley Ihionvien surged forward andyuuuuuuuy try try yyy played in Iwan Morgan who was in acres of space in front of goal. Unfortunately, Morgan was not only in space but also an offside position.

The second half was played in a vicious parody of April showers, the weather switching between bright sunshine and black rainstorms. The, at times, torrid conditions added to the sense of the match being a battle. Oldham chased the game with determination and Salop responded with some gritty defence. Stubbs was superb with a series of defensive headers, as every home player battled to protect their advantage. The nearest the visitors got to an equaliser came from two corners: the first a goalmouth melee from which Cox emerged with the ball in his hands while the opposition players made extravagant claims that it had crossed the goal line; the second where the ball fell to Fabio Jalo whose bicycle kick thudded into the post.

Salop were, as they say, professional throughout not squandering any opportunity to give the match ball a bit of a rest. Still, nine minutes extra for stoppages seemed very excessive of Ms Heaslip – whose performance once again confirmed that inconsistent refereeing is not a solely masculine trait. The home side remained composed and kept the visitors’ scoring opportunities to a minimum. Few neutrals would have begrudged Salop their victory. They played like a team and several players put in excellence performances, although special mention be due to Gray who was very impressive on his full debut.

Midway through the second period something triggered an emergency announcement with a klaxon like tone piercing the air. The accompanying message requested orderly preparation for an evacuation. It left plenty in the crowd bemused to say the least. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. At the turn of the year the warning klaxon sounded, and it led to action: Gavin Cowan arrived to replace Michael Appleton. Whether relegation would have been the consequence of sticking with Appleton is open to debate, but it is hard to envisage survival being this comfortable without the change. Major Cowan had one mission, and this has now been mathematically accomplished. I salute you, sir.

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Bromley: Smith; Odutayo; Cameron; Sowunmi; Ifill; Charles (Arthurs 82’); Pinnock (Ilunga 90+1’); Hondermarck; Ajayi (Krauhaus 82’); Whitely; Nabamba.

Unused substitutes: Dinanga; Evans; Long; Medley.

Scorers: Ifill (38’); Cameron (49’).

Shrewsbury: Cox; Ruffels; Anderson; Stubbs [Y]; Berkoe [Y] (England 79’); Ojinnaka (Clucas 64’); Freeman (Perry 56’); Kabia; Morgan; Marquis (Scully 79’); Ihionvien [Y] (Lloyd 63’).

Unused substitutes: Brook; Lee.

Scorer: Ihionvien (6’).

Match officials: Referee – Ms A Byrne; Assistants – Mr S Butler & Mr A Aylott; Fourth – Mr T Sangowawa.

Attendance: 4,780.

If following Salop away this season has been a marathon, then the final three trips represent the equivalent of hitting the wall. In close succession there is a visit to Kentish South London, West Sussex and finally Kent proper. If there is a consolation in this fruitless travelling, it must be that it will be entirely inconsequential in football terms. Having made extensive use of my slide-rule on Easter Monday (life is so much more satisfying when shunning Artificial Intelligence) even I had to be concede that Salop are not yet mathematically safe from finishing in the bottom two, but – as politicians say – it is very hard to foresee the circumstances where Town end up being relegated out of the EFL this May. So – as another politician of yore famously declared: Just rejoice at that news!

As far as I can recall, this was my first visit to Bromley. In my imagination the borough was part of leafy south London suburbia, one of the old rural parishes that was absorbed into the greater metropolis when improved rail transport made it feasible to make a daily commute into the city to work. Driving into the area it was very much as I had expected; a mixture of inter-war residential housing – much of it in the black and white mock-Tudor style. Whether Bromley Football Club’s black and white strip is mock-Tudor inspired need not trouble us, but at time when miracles in football have become a cliché, my GCCC cricket cap has to be well and truly doffed to a club that has come from tier six of the English pyramid to the brink of League One in eleven seasons.

When we parked up in a residential area, other than a sign at the top of an inconspicuous access drive, there was little indication of the presence of a football league ground in the vicinity. Walking down the drive suburbia was left behind as we passed fields were cathouses grazed and entered a section of the Metropolitan Green Belt that was devoted to recreational use centred around the Copper Jax Community Stadium at Hayes Lane. The ground looked very much what it clearly is: an Isthmian League venue that had been developed piecemeal into ground meeting EFL standards. Behind the south stand is an impressive development containing the Broomfields Bar and Kitchen – open all year round for community functions.

Away supporters had to enter around the back of the ground, having their tickets scanned before being admitted through vintage foot operated turnstiles. Visitors’ seating was provided in a demountable stand in the northeast corner of the ground, along with a small section of standing in the newly constructed East Terrace which has been in use since the start of this season. Underneath were brand spanking new toilet facilities that had absolutely everything – bar handwash. Tickets for standing and seating were strictly non-transferable. One Salop supporter of our acquaintance with a seated ticket attempted to gain entry to the standing area, only to be caught out – like Gordon Jackson and Richard Attenborough in the Great Escape – when the steward guarding the entrance wished him ‘good luck’.

There was little surprise that Gavin Cowan’s starting lineup showed only one change from the team that had started against Tranmere. The solitary change was, however, an unanticipated switch of Tom Anderson for Will Boyle, with the latter not even featuring on the bench. The Major later explained that Boyle had been omitted so to save him picking up a yellow card that would lead to a suspension. This stirred two interesting thoughts: firstly, that the Major felt the relegation threat had subsided enough to be able to leave out one of his best performers; secondly, that I obviously have insufficient knowledge of the regulations relating to suspensions.

Monday’s results had improved the respective prospects of both teams, although Bromley might have been under a little pressure to take advantage of these given that they had only picked up one point in their previous two matches. Herein lay a bit of encouragement for the underdog; if Salop could take the lead, they might induce something of a wobble in the league leaders.

The visitors started well. Very early on an Iwan Morgan long-throw opened an opportunity for Josh Ruffels, but the defender was unable to find the target. Only minutes later, Salop scored a hypothesis-testing opening goal. Defending a long-throw, Anderson was able to make a clearance that was seized on by Bradley Ihionvien who had stayed up on the half-way line. Despite the limpet like attention of Marcus Ifill, Ininovien was able to take the ball into the penalty area and fire in a shot that had sufficient force to cut through Grant Smith. (Had Ininovien not scored, it was an open question as to whether Ifill had fouled the striker in the build-up – which would have left referee Abigal Byrne with a big decision to make, although by the end of the match it was obvious how that decision would have gone.)

For the next period Salop played as well as they had done since their six wins in seven purple patch. Using the full width of a wide playing surface, they passed the ball round accurately with good vision. John Marquis almost doubled the lead, but his goal was disallowed for an off-side infringement. However, it was soon apparent that Bromley’s table topping position was no fluke. They looked dangerous every time they entered the visitor’s final third, posing a threat not only from long throws and corners, but with open play grounded in accurate passing. Gradually Salop’s play lost its fluidity; they were no longer passing the ball forward with any intent but clearing it indiscriminately.

Cox was having to work harder to protect the one-nil lead, and the harder he worked the inevitability of a home equaliser was growing. The Salop ‘keeper was finally beaten in a set piece melee stemming from a looping corner kick that landed right in the area; Ifill was given sufficient room to be able to knock the ball over Cox and into the net. The goal was sufficient to rouse a group of Artful Dodgers standing on the terrace next to the away supporters’ seating. They started to treat their visitors to a bit of ‘bantz’ that demonstrated that Bromley’s educational academies equipped their students with an incredibly wide vocabulary, with some words this simple Shropshire Methodist struggled to comprehend.

The balance of the match had shifted but come the break the scores were still level and in these circumstances the visitors still had the sniff of a chance – even against a team that was unbeaten at home all season. The honorary fellows of the School of Salop Studies were bold enough to suggest that the mere fact that Bromley were unbeaten at home was a good portent of them suffering an unexpected defeat. Just to show how much academics know about the real world, Bromley took the lead from their first attack of the second period: Kyle Cameron seizing on a lose ball and firing the ball past Cox by virtue of massive deflection off Anderson.

Thereafter there was not much to animate the visiting supporters, other than another forty minutes of bad-natured banter from the aforesaid group of Artful Dodgers, doubly energised from there being no school in the morning, together with Ms Byrnes’ default setting of awarding fouls whenever a Bromley player floated to the ground. (How George Lloyd could floor Omar Sowunmi – who is a good ten inches of bulk taller – without the assistance of a cricket bat is beyond me.)

It was not a terrible performance from Salop, but clear evidence of the quality gap between the top and bottom of League Two. Despite everything, having a team like Bromley punching above its weight should be an encouragement to the clubs with small budgets. As they say: it is not essential to have loads of money to enjoy success – but it helps. There was plenty to cogitate on the long drive back to Shrewsbury, where the black and white Tudor buildings are the real McCoy.

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Shrewsbury: Cox; Ruffels; Boyle; Stubbs; Berkoe; Ojinnaka (Clucas 80’); Freeman; Kabia; Morgan (Lloyd 90+5’); Marquis; Ihionvien (Perry 74’).

Unused substitutes: Anderson; Brook; Gray; Scully.

Scorer: Stubbs (55’)

Tranmere: Marosi; McGowan; Smith; Negru; Brough [Y]; Kenneh (O’Connor 61’); Finley (Patrick 68’); Joseph; Whitaker (Woolery 61’); Ironside (Dennis 78’).

Unused substitutes: Barrett; Plant; Warrington.

Match officials: Referee – Mr O Yates; Assistants – Mr K Morris & Mr J Brooks; Fourth – Mr J Larkin.

Attendance: 7,012.

It is a real challenge to pick out the darkest moment in a season that has had more dark moments than a boxset of the TV series ‘Inside No.9’. A big contender must be Saturday 9 August 2025, when Tranmere ripped up any remaining pretentions that Salop might have had about doing well in League Two. At the end of a 4-0 thrashing, the packed away end at Prenton Park was such an embodiment of disgruntlement that the Oxford English Dictionary could have used pictures of it to illustrate their definition of the word.

After that match, had anyone offered me the prospect that with six matches to go Salop would be nineteenth in the table with an eleven-point cushion over the relegation places, then I would not have hesitated in taking it. There again, if at that moment someone had suggested that before the end of the season Gavin Cowan would be bringing the manager of the month award to Croud Meadow, I would have been wondering what substance they had been taking and whether it was freely available. It is always beneficial to be reminded that a season is a long time in football.

There was only one minuscule positive about Salop’s abject performance at Newport: that it was so bad it could not fail to produce a reaction. Indeed, if no reaction was forthcoming that would be a telling indictment of the whole of the club’s playing and coaching staff. As they say: no pressure then! That the next game was against Tranmere, the team that had shredded us eight months earlier, would not have been particularly welcome. However, if Rovers’ fanbase had thought that early season results were heralding a renaissance, 2026 had rapidly turned these hopes to ashes. Since beating Harrogate 2-0 on New Years’ Day (the same day that Salop surrendered to Bristol Rovers), Tranmere had taken precisely four points from a possible forty-five, losing thirteen out of fifteen matches. Rovers were not the formidable opponents of the early season; they had become that even more dangerous opposition for Salop – a team on a long winless streak. There is probably little statistical evidence to support the idea that Town always lose to teams on a terrible run of results, but that does not prevent the notion spreading amongst blue and amber supporters like the Black Death sweeping through Medieval Europe.

The Major’s team selection clearly indicated that he was not taking the Newport performance in a horizontal position. Apart from Tom Sang who would not be involved because of injury, four other starters in South Wales had lost their places: George Lloyd, Taylor Perry and Anthony Scully dropped down to be bench, with Mal Benning – along with Tommy McDermott who had replaced Sang when he picked up his injury – not featuring in the match day squad at all. Coming into the eleven were Ismeal Kabia, Nick Freeman, John Marquis, Bradley Ihionvien and – for his first appearance under Cowan – Temple Ojinnaka. It seemed that the Major had taken on board the suggestion that he needed to give opportunities for fringe players to show what they could do in a blue and amber shirt. Two former Salop players were in Tranmere’s line-up: Marko Marosi and Nohan Kenneh.

The away end was packed out as the visitors had sold out their ticket allocation. Whether the tickets had sold like hot-cross buns because it was a bank holiday, or because it was a vital away match against opponents that had already been put the sword this season, or simply because it was a relatively local derby was not clear. However, the home sections of the stadium reflected the fact that Salop supporters were on the beach, down the garden centre, walking round Attingham Park, in the pub, or anywhere else where they could avoid watching their team play their distinctive brand of football. To be fair come kick-off there must have been plenty of posteriors in bucket seats as the declared attendance was just over 7,000.

At the end of their warmup the Tranmere players and staff made an overt display of togetherness by engaging in a massive huddle. This seemed to go down well with their supporters, who cranked up the noise considerably. It was not long into the match when they started to chant: “You’re only here for the Tranmere”. (What were they on, and is it freely available?) As spirted support goes, this was one of the best I have seen in some time. For much of the first half the visiting supporters engaged in a boisterous attempt of trying to gaslight the home supporters – and possibly their own players – into believing they were supporting “the greatest team in football”. Unfortunately, the evidence placed before us on the pitch was substandard fare even at League Two level. It was obvious that Cowan had concluded, rightly in my opinion, that the wingbacks needed to have more of a presence in the opposition half and Berkoe and Kabia were doing this sufficiently well for Salop to look the better side. However, when a team’s central defence moves as slowly as an oil tanker in the strait of Hormuz, it is impossible to sit easily.

Both sides were producing scoring opportunities rather than chances, perhaps suggesting that there was an implicit consensus for settling for a point each. Tranmere defended tenaciously limiting Salop’s time on the ball. The home side’s best opportunity was supplied by Kabia whose looping pass forward found Inionvien right in front of goal, but the striker only managed to flick the ball into Marosi’s hands. Neither side was in the mood to throw caution to the not inconsiderable wind and would have been satisfied with half-time’s double blank scoreline.

The second half saw Salop try to up the ante, and this was rewarded with a goal on fifty-five minutes. With the defenders up field for a set piece, a quickly taken throw saw Morgan despatch a ball into the box that found Marquis. The Salop skipper played the ball to Berkoe deep on the left and the wing back delivered a nicely flighted cross that Sam Stubbs athletically headed into the net. In the blocks of the West Stand the sense of relieve was almost audible.

The home side should have wrapped the game up shortly afterwards as they built up the pressure, but nothing came of several clear chances. Ojinnaka was unlucky not to mark his home debut with a goal, coming close with a header and having a shot blocked on the line. Tranmere had no choice but to open things up and might have punished Salop as they came back into the game with about twenty minutes remaining. Their best chance fell to Joe Ironside, whose close-range shot was dramatically – and bravely – saved by Matt Cox. That though was the visitor’s only effort that found the target. The home support might have been on edge – particularly with the referee adding on a very generous six minutes for stoppages – but the nervousness was fuelled more by what might happen rather than what seemed likely to happen.

After the final whistle Salop fans were treated to a rare sight: the boos raining out from the opposition fans. Their disgruntlement was totally justified, with the nightmare run now being stretched to one win and one draw in sixteen. On 1 January they had been in seventeenth position, fifteen points above the relegation places. They are now twenty-first and three points above the drop zone. Over the sixteen-match run Tranmere’s goal difference has been falling by an average of 1.6 goals per game.

As for Salop, over the same period they have moved from twenty-second position and two points above relegation places to eighteenth and being ten and eleven points above the two bottom placed teams that also have only five more matches to play. Mathematical safety could come as early as Tuesday night, if on Monday Harrogate fail to win and Newport lose and Salop win at Bromley. A landing softer than anything that might have been imagined after that dismal New Years’ Day is very much in sight.

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Newport: Wright; Davies; Delaney; Baker; Shephard (Thomas 73’); Sprangler; Evans [Y] (Brennan 94’); Kamwa; Smith (Garner 73’ [Y]); Lloyd (Opoku 87’); Crole (Baker-Richardson 86’).

Unused substitutes: Glennon; MacDonald.

Scorers: Kanwa (68’).

Shrewsbury: Cox; Ruffels; Boyle [Y]; Stubbs; Benning [Y] (Kabia 70’); Berkoe; Perry [Y]; Scully (Ihionvien 76’); Sang (McDermott 44’); Morgan; Lloyd (Marquis 69’).

Unused substitutes: Anderson; Brook; Freeman.

Match officials: Referee – Mr E Bell; Assistants – Mr C Taylor & Mr T Staten; Fourth – Mr M Amphlett.

Attendance: 4,806.

Stephen Bush of the Financial Times, currently one of the best political commentators around, believes Sir Keir Starmer’s grotesque unpopularity stems from being the ‘fifth plumber.’ If you have been having problems with your boiler and four different plumbers have had a go at fixing it and failed, then the fifth plumber employed to repair it is in an invidious position. If this fifth plumber is unable to immediately deliver on a promise to get the boiler working again, then they end up having soak up customer dissatisfaction not only for their own failure, but for the collective failure of the previous four.

Gavin Cowan looked very much like the fifth plumber when his attempt to applaud the Salop supporters that had travelled to Newport was met with a reaction that ranged between stony silence and high-volume invective. Everything had been going so well. It had not taken him long to get the boiler humming again, hot water was gushing from the taps, and the radiators were positively glowing with heat. Then suddenly nothing was working again. Cowan was back trying to repair the boiler, now disassembled with parts laid out all over the floor. Please be patient, he pleads – it will not be long before the boiler is operating as the best version of a central heating system.

Trying to explain away the abject performance at Rodney Parade, the Major sounded almost embarrassed about being the current League Two manager of the month. It has been a long-standing cliché that the award is a jinx. For Cowan it has proved to be so toxic that the trophy really needs to be put in a lead lined box and deposited down a deep mineshaft. Only recently the head coach was being lauded for doing the simple things: putting players into their best positions; having a game plan where all the team knew exactly what their role was. It pains me to write that the performance at Newport represented a massive regression. An end of blip rooted in the players being mentally in the holiday departure lounge. That might be a point, but if they do not snap out of it immediately, they will end up the Croud Meadow departure lounge.

Seven weeks ago, when Salop sat a mere two points above the relegation places, the trip to Newport looked like being a huge fixture. With the ‘six wins in seven’ purple patch having stretched the gap to eleven points, the majority of the around 750 blue and amber travellers were expecting a nice spring Saturday in South Wales, topped off with a three points performance. It was a bright sunny afternoon, but ominously there was also a chill wind blowing through the city. Having struggled all season, the Exiles’ performances have improved since Christian Fuchs took over as manager, but there has remained a brittleness about the side that has been evident in a tendency to be punished by conceding late goals. Salopian optimism, despite recent setbacks, was justified. In the open stand behind the goal the visiting supporters seemed in good form, unfurling their flags and making good natured noise. Unfortunately, a gust of wind caught one cross of St George and sent it fluttering away and end up caught in the branches of a nearby tree.

Cowan’s selection options had increased with players returning from injury and suspension. Having been released from the FA sinbin, Josh Ruffels and Taylor Perry were slotted back into the starting lineup at left centre back and left midfield, respectively. Mal Benning moved to left back, with Kevin Berkoe switching to the right in place of Ismeal Kabia. Anthony Scully was in a central midfield attacking role. After a week in the head coach’s tumble dryer, Iwan Morgan was back in the starting lineup. From the team that had been mauled by Crewe seven days earlier, Tom Anderson, Tommy McDermott and Kabia had been dropped to the bench, and Trey Ogunsuyi and Sam Clucas did not make the matchday squad. Returning to the bench after injury was John Marquis.

Rodney Parade is also home to the Welsh regional rugby union team Dragons RFC. After the first ten minutes of the match spectators might have been wondering if they had turned up on the wrong Saturday, given that the ball was in the air so much this could easily have been a rugby match. Despite the high wind, both sides were resorting to the long ball as their primary means of attack. The game had more hoofs than Animal Farm. As for set piece play, the teams were about as threatening as an Easter Bunny.

Inevitably it was not long before I was taking more interest in the electronic advertising boards that were spread around the ground. The irony of seeing the boards proclaiming “Where Style Meets Excellence” at venue where both qualities were in woefully short supply was not wasted on me. It took thirty-eight minutes for either team to muster a reasonable attempt on goal, and even then, the opportunity was not skilfully created but was the result of a poor piece of football. A poor kick from Matt Cox when straight to a Newport player who threaded the ball across the box where two shots at goal were blocked by Salop defenders. In an act of public service, the advertising hoarding flashed up “Step up and learn CPR in 15 minutes”. Sacrificing a quarter of an hour of watching this match to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation would have been mutually beneficial to yourself and the wider community. Indeed, this was a match that required vigorous CPR if it was going to deliver even a modicum of entertainment.

Salop managed a burst of pressure at the start of the second half. From a neat move down the left, Morgan set Perry up for the visitors’ first attempt on target. Three corner kicks followed in quick succession. Thereafter the match returned to the well-worn pattern of the first period: long balls interspersed with fouls. With Salop offering little in attack – the midfield much too lightweight to make an impression in midfield and the front line being unable to win the ball let alone hold it up – the match had all the hallmarks of being a repeat of the contest at Bristol Rovers where a goal out of nothing proved decisive. The goal out of nothing came just past the hour mark, where deep on the left flank Bobby Kamaw’s speculative shot from more that twenty-five yards looped past Cox and into the corner of the net. Given Newport’s record of not being able to hold onto a lead, it might have been expected that Salop could have battered their way to scoring once, if not twice. That, though, relied on the visitors regularly getting the ball into the opposition half, something that was very much beyond them.

Few managers have accumulated so much credit so quickly and then frittered it away so comprehensively as Cowan has managed to do. Having managed to put his stamp on the team so quickly, in a matter of four matches all the things that were underpinning the sudden improvement in form have disappeared as quickly as they arrived. There have been setbacks caused by injury and suspension, but for the Newport game there was only one notable absentee from the players that managed five in a row – Luca Hoole. It all takes a bit of explanation, but I have a feeling that a major factor is opponents having twigged that if they stop Salop’s wing backs getting forward the team’s attacking options are limited.

Realistically Salop can only get sucked back into the relegation battle if they go winless for the rest of the season, but after the woefully substandard performance at Newport it is worrying that suddenly it is hard to see where the next win is coming from. To avoid a fraught few weeks counting down the games those below us lose, the plumber really does need to get the boiler firing again as a matter of urgency.

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Shrewsbury: Cox; Benning (Ihionvien 61’); Boyle; Anderson; Kercoe; Kabia; Clucas; McDermott (Gray 74’); Sang; Ogunsuyi (Scully 70’); Lloyd.

Unused substitutes: Brook; Freeman; Lee; Stubbs.

Crewe: Lawler; Hutchinson; Demetriou; Pond; Billington; Agius; Sanders (Bogle 77’); March [Y] (Connolly 77’); O’Reilly (Powell 77’); Lankester [Y] (Holicek 57’); Tezgel [Y] (Thibaut 77’).

Unused substitutes: Booth; Finney.

Scorers: Cox (5’og); March (8’, 63’); Tezgel (70’).

Match officials: Referee – Mr J O’Connor; Assistants – Mr J Clench & Mr D O’Shea; Fourth – Mr K Buckley.

Attendance: 7,041.

It is probably best to start with an apology. After the away game at Chesterfield, no doubt under the influence of that potent narcotic substitute derived from repeatedly winning football matches, I constructed my piece around the thought that Shrewsbury Town’s revival under Gavin Cowan was not a flash in the pan. Since then, Salop have lost three on the bounce, conceding seven goals and scoring none. Notice is therefore given that on Monday morning I will present myself to the constable of Shrewsbury Castle, where I will be locked into the borough stocks and, for a suitable period, be available to receive hurled abuse, overripe fruit and rotting vegetables.

There is something unique about a Salop team that can manage to extricate themselves from a relegation battle and still leave their fans wanting less. As the Major said in his post-match interview (which in my flawed opinion was the best he has given so far), had this team battled up to nineteenth in the League Two with a run of winning a couple and losing a couple with the odd draw thrown in, most fans would have been more than happy. What is highly frustrating is the thought that having shown what they are capable of, some players might have moved into ‘this season’s work is done’ mode. The Major was spot on with his observation that the last thing Salop supporters want during their Saturday afternoon respite from the weekly grind of these uncertain times, is to be sullen witnesses to a rival set of supporters’ best day of the year.

With this fixture being designated as Shrewsbury Town’s twelfth Military Matchday, the crowd was treated to the annual delivery of the match ball by a Juno helicopter from RAF Shawbury. Little were the blue and amber contingent aware that this spectacle was going to be the highlight of their day. Give Cowan’s preference for a clear battleplan, it would be thought Military Matchday would produce an environment in which he could not fail to become the best version of himself. However, his team selection for the match did not sit well in the minds of many Salop fans. Mal Benning was recalled starting in the centre back position occupied by Sam Stubbs at Bristol Rovers midweek. Although it had been generally thought that Iwan Morgan was fit, he did not figure in the matchday squad; his absence opening a place in the team for Sam Clucas. Nick Freeman and Anthony Scully moved to the bench, their starting places taken by Tommy McDermott and Trey Ogunsuyi. Also, on the bench – returning after a lengthy absence recovering from injury, was Bradley Ihinonvien.

It is no understatement to observe that Salop’s afternoon started catastrophically and went downhill from there on. Rarely can a match have been so comprehensively defined by the opening ten minutes. Crewe started with a display of purpose, earnestness and quality, their first incursions into Salop’s final third producing fluid movement, incisive passing and two goals. Clucas was caught in possession in midfield with Tommi O’Reilly (yes, the same Tommi O’Reilly that had a miserable time at Salop on loan under Paul Hurst 2.0) seizing on the loose ball in an amount of space that appeared impossible given the narrowness of the Meadow playing surface. The midfielder cumulated his run with a square pass to Josh Marsh, who took it to the goal line but fortunately his shot was blocked by Benning. Unfortunately, the block by Salop’s No.3 was simultaneously an ‘own goal assist’, the ball hitting Matt Cox and being diverted into the net. Three minutes later a sharp run down the Crewe left saw Jack Lankester receive the ball on the edge of the area with his back to goal and he swiftly back heeled it into the path of an advancing March, who fired the ball past Cox and so score with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of celebration. In eight minutes, Crewe had split open Salop with such ease that it made the process of shelling peas look infuriatingly complex. Things could have been much worse if a third Crewe goal had not been ruled out for an offside.

If the Salop plan was to keep things tight and let the pressure build on the visitors, then it was in tatters. The only positive for the home side was that there was plenty of football to play and it only needed a single goal to change the early narrative of the match. To be fair the hosts set about getting back into the game by having the better of the possession and making some promising attacks. In the remainder of the first half Kevin Berkoe was getting the ball forward on Salop’s left flank, perhaps because Benning’s greater mobility in central defence gave him the freedom to attack more. By contrast, on the right flank Ismeal Kabia was struggling to have any influence as an attacker, with the result that his pace was not being utilised. The lack of mobility in the three central defenders constrains Berkoe and Kabia in what they can provide getting forward.

For all Salop’s possession, they were unable to create good goalscoring opportunities as they lacked Crewe’s incisiveness in the final third of the pitch. There were several crosses from wide of the box that avoided any contact with a player in blue and amber. Neither were the hosts threatening in their set pieces. In Morgan’s absence Clucas was the provider of long throws, but again nothing seemed to drop for Town. On the verge of half time a free kick presented Ogunsuyi with a free header, but he could only knock the ball over the bar.

With half the match remaining a Salop goal (from whatever source) still provided a route back into the game, but that diminishing accessway was effectively bricked up when Crewe made another double strike midway through the second period. The visitors third was accompanied by yet another comedy of errors from Salop’s defence that cumulated in Marsh having all the time in the world to control the ball in the home box and fire in a shot that Cox looked to have covered but ended up in the net anyway. The Brentford ‘keeper had by far his most uncomfortable afternoon of his loan. Crewe completed the rout with a fourth goal: Emre Tezgel getting his head onto a long ball from Lewis Billington.

For the last period of the match the only cheer for Salop fans was Bradley Ihionvien and Will Gray getting a first team run out, and the fact that all the teams below them in the league table were all subsiding to defeat. Around Block 17 there was a bit of agitation about Town being ‘only’ eleven points above the relegation places. For Salop to be sucked back into danger three teams currently in the bottom four – all having seven or eight left to play – would need to win at least four matches: over their last six matches these four teams have managed to win only three matches between them. It is not unprecedented for a team to manage a run of victories in the last six weeks of the season to engineer a ‘great escape’ - for three teams to do this would be some feat.

Mulling over a miserable afternoon, it is justifiable to suggest that a run of three defeats can have value. The old cliché is that more is learnt about players in defeat than in victory. Had the victory over Chesterfield been the last match of the season, a few of the out of contract players might have done enough to be offered new deals. After three consecutive defeats these decisions may have become more borderline. Looking at the wider picture, with season tickets for next season now available, a late collapse in form can only have a bad effect on sales. In numerous ways there is still plenty to play for.

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Rovers: Young; Harbottle [Y] (Thomas 63’); Kilgour; Sparkes; Smallwood; Mola; Senior; Leigh (Thompson-Sommers 86’); Quigley (Harrison 63’); Cavegn; (Akhamrich 63’).

Unused substitutes: Akhamrich; De Havilland; Lockyer; Southwood.

Scorer: Leigh (79’).

Shrewsbury: Cox; Stubbs (Benning 89’); Boyle; Anderson; Berkoe; Freeman (McDermott 80’ [Y]); Morgan (Ogunsuyi 58’); Scully (Gray 88’); Sang; Kabia; Lloyd.

Unused substitutes: Brook; Hall; Lee.

Match officials: Referee – Mr D Rock; Assistants – Mr A Bennett & Mr G Read; Fourth – Mr S Parkinson.

Attendance: 6,834.

As regular readers of this Shrewsbury Town odyssey will already know, there is a part of this Shropshire Lad that will always be Bristolian. The only time I have lived away from my hometown is for three years to study for a degree and this was in the City of Bristol. For a young man, whose fame amongst the city’s student population peaked with a reference in the student newspaper to being someone ‘that could not be wetter if he had just fallen into the water jump,’ my first taste of the unreal real world inevitably left a lasting impression. I stayed in private accommodation for all three years in the city, so avoided the insularity of the gown, getting to know the city as an ordinary resident and liking what I saw. Bristol is a diverse nonconformist city but avoids the stridency and exceptionalism of some northern cities I could mention.

This connection with the city has seen me return there with increasing frequency, especially in the spring and summer when Gloucestershire have a championship match at the County Ground. So, Salop having a midweek match against Bristol Rovers was an opportunity I seized on to have a mini break that combined familiarity with some exploration. On the Monday I clocked up 30,000 steps on a walk of the Frome Valley, sustained by the sort of refreshment that comes in pints. Tuesday involved a guidebook walk around the city centre starting at the empty plinth were the statue of the slave trader philanthropist Edward Colston once stood (whisper it, but this metal figure was manufactured in Coalbrookdale), and moving around the old city centre taking in the architectural splendour of buildings that were originally built as statements of the status of the regional banks, insurers and traders that created the city’s wealth but now, if used for anything, house Supermarket Locals, eateries and purveyors of cheap beer.

Of course, these excursions were the mere aperitif for the main event – Salop’s visit to the Memorial Ground. When I booked accommodation and travel for this game, back in the dark days of January, it appeared that this game would be of pivotal importance in the League Two relegation battle. In the event both Salop and Rovers both been picking up points. Rather than looking nervously over their shoulders at the progress of those lower down the table, while far from mathematically safe both clubs can watch the relegation dog fight from a comfortable distance. It might be all kicking off in the pub car, but we have comfortable seats in the lounge bar and have no intention of getting involved in any fisticuffs. Unless something comes crashing through the lounge window.

After the disappointing result against Cheltenham, Gavin Cowan made a few tweaks to the starting lineup. The place of Tom Anderson, who had picked up an injury against Cheltenham, went to the surprisingly fit again Tom Anderson. Unfortunately, there are no Lazarus-like comebacks from disciplinary suspensions, so that great showman that is Taylor Perry sat out the first of his two-match ban, which gave a start to Nick Freeman. Trey Ogunsuyi and Tommy McDermott dropped to the bench, making way for Anthony Scully and George Lloyd. The presence of Isaac Lee, Will Gray and Ollie Hall on the fence was an eloquent exposition of the number of injuries and suspensions Salop are currently dealing with.

Salop’s first half performance promised more than it delivered. After their impotence against Cheltenham, there was a determination to try and get on the front foot, and while Town did not by any means dominate possession, they did make a few threatening incursions into the Rovers’ half. Iwan Morgan made a great diagonal run through two thirds of the pitch and delivered a superb cross that Lloyd was only just short of connecting with. Morgan, in another demonstration of his tenacity, took the ball deep into the corner and unable to find a way through the Rovers’ defence, made a tactical retreat and was able to fire a long-curved shot that only just missed the target.

At the other end Salop were defending stoutly, limiting the opposition’s incursions into the final third. It was only during the four minutes added on to the first period that Rovers really bared their teeth, pressuring the Town back line into a succession of desperate clearances. Although goalless at the half-time break, this match had already offered more entertainment than the turgid affair at the Meadow three earlier had generated. An impressive Salop following of around 350 looked satisfied during the break. They had been enjoying themselves with the usual chanting bants with the home supporters, although whether the Gas should be associated with tractors is a point of debate. At one point the vocal section was calling for a wave from John Marquis: as they say, absence makes the heart feel fonder.

From a Salop point of view, the second period went rapidly downhill. The hosts had regrouped and were pressing effectively to deprive the visitors of the space they were getting in the first half. Without the wingbacks being able to get forward, Salop’s attacks were punching long balls forward, and for all his industry Lloyd was winning nothing in his aerial battle with the Pirates large centre backs. When Ogunsuyi appeared on the touchline it appeared that he would replace Lloyd, but the Major had decided to bring off Morgan. Along with the rest of the Salop attack he had struggled to make an impression in the second half but withdrawing him meant the team would be without his running and his long throw.

Steve Evans responded with his own triple substation; Rovers were now looking the more likely to score, although a goalless draw was looking even more likelier. It seemed Salop would gratefully embrace a point; Rovers were only slightly more ambitious, probably thinking a point in the hand was better than three in the bush. However, if luck does favour anyone, it favours the slightly more ambitious; from a long throw into the box Boyle cleared the ball to the edge of the area where it fell for Tommy Leigh. His attempted strike sent the ball straight into the ground from were it bounced forward, hit a Town defender which deflected it past Matt Cox. It was the first effort on target of the game.

Immediately the goal was scored the course of the match seemed decided. Salop had retreated into defence and to suddenly switch to attack seemed beyond them. A ball forward from McDermott gave a big opportunity to Ogunsyi, but the bounce of the ball did not favour the striker, and he could only manage a tame effort straight at the ‘keeper. There was a gasp from the home crowd when the referee added on ten minutes to the second half – sometimes timewasting can count double – but this time was easily whittled away with the referee awarding a succession of free kicks. A late burst down the left from Mal Benning saw Salop’s last opportunity – a cross that went straight to the ‘keeper.

A few Town supporters were bemoaning that the bubble had burst – although plenty of these supporters did not believe the bubble could be inflated in the first place. The Cowan bounce came from him marshalling his resources and hitting on a purple patch of form that had its own momentum to keep it going. However, no team can be a surprise package for long, and opponents start to see weakness to exploit – particularly when the team loses players to injury and suspension. In a funny way, with decisions to be made about contracts, being forced to make changes will be a valuable learning experience for a head coach who will have to draw up his first retained list in a few weeks.

Rovers’ win moved them up the table to within one point of Salop. If they avoid complacency both teams should maintain a comfortable distance from the four-club relegation dog fight ten points lower down the table. After thirty-eight matches hardly a fag paper separates the two clubs, although given Rovers have a top five budget that is one very expensive fag paper.

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Shrewsbury: Cox; Stubbs; Boyle; Anderson (Benning 60’); Berkoe [Y]; Kabia; Morgan (Scully 77’); Perry [Y] (Freeman 77’); Sang; McDermott (Lloyd 64’); Ogunsuyi.

Unused substitutes: Brook; Gray; Lee.

Cheltenham: Day [Y]; Tomkinson; Wilson; Cundy [Y]; Sherring; Stevenson (Ashfield 77’); Bickerstaff (Broom 84’); Hutchinson (Deeming 84’); Thomas (Jude-Boyd 80’); Davison (Miller 83’).

Unused substitutes: Diallo; Nurse.

Scorers: Thomas (63’); Sherring (71’).

Match officials: Referee – Mr L Sandoe; Assistants – Mr J Topp & Mr M Jones; Fourth – Mr S Oldham.

Attendance: 5,876.

The daffodils are out so we are getting to that time of the year when the rest of the football season consists of single figures. The time when the minds of professional footballers turn to the beach – at least in the minds of disgruntled fans analysing a highly disappointing defeat. The point when everyone tries to get excited about the dead rubber of league matches of little consequence.

In the minds of a footballing nation, Shrewsbury versus Cheltenham would appear to have about as much interest as which town came third in the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition. However, the football nation is unaware of what Bertie Wooster would call the “wheels within wheels.” This league fixture had more at stake than a mere three points, bragging rights or which club could claim the unofficial championship of the Welsh Marches (a contest only open to places which are the epitome of a football cold-bed). This was a battle for the hearts and minds of everyone of a blue and amber persuasion. It was Roland versus Steve.

A quick recap for the unfamiliar. Roland and Steve were once good mates, so much so that when Steve was out of work Roland offered him a job: a match made in Shropshire. When Steve fell seriously ill and could not work, Roland went out of his way to support his new employee through his time away sick. In return Steve pushed himself to the limits to bring Roland success. Everything appeared rosy, but behind the scenes their personal relationship had fractured to such an extent that Roland felt that employing Steve was the biggest mistake he had ever made. This situation could not last, and eventually Steve left with still time left on his contract in an atmosphere of barely concealed acrimony.

When two proud men fall out it leads to only one thing – fallout. When Salop visited Cheltenham on Boxing Day, Steve Cotterill ramped up the contest with a prematch interview that painted himself as the injured party, cruelly and unjustly forced out despite all the success and transfer receipts he brought to Salop. The Cheltenham manager is too canny a communicator not to win the war of words easily, and to make a discomforting situation even more unbearable, eased to a similarly comprehensive victory on the pitch.

It is fair to say that the return fixture at the Meadow was for that most precious of prizes: the last laugh. Such are the vagaries of football that since Boxing Day the fortunes of the two clubs had gone is opposite directions in the form table. For all their dominance of that distinctly un-festive occasion Cheltenham had won only two more matches since. By contrast Salop had bounced above the Robins in the League Two title, having won seven matches – the last six under the new head coach Gavin Cowan. So, this was a match between a club on a winning streak and one that was enjoying a more modest run of draws. No prizes for guessing who the bookies were favouring.

Cowan made one change to the lineup that won at Chesterfield, starting Taylor Perry (one of three former Cheltenham players in his match day squad). It was clear from the offset that the lack of pace in a back three of Tom Anderson, Will Boyle and Sam Stubbs needed to be protected and the game plan was safety first – keeping things tight even if that meant ceding a good deal of the possession to the visitors. In the opening minutes, both teams made attacking moves, for Salop a gilt-edged chance fell to Tommy MacDermott but his scoring effort did not find the target.

After that first burst of excitement both sides engaged in military manoeuvres, warily scouting the opposition but not engaging in even the most minor skirmish. To be honest the rest of the match was uninterrupted tedium, as shown by my notes consisting of jottings about occurrences that fit neatly into a list of the things about football that I find highly depressing:

- MacDermott had clearly been targeted for rough treatment, presumably in the hope that he would be provoked into some hot-headed retaliation that would get him sent off.

- How infuriating is a self-important referee that theatrically points to the precise position he wants a throw in taken from and then is oblivious to the fact that when the throw is eventually taken it is in the neighbouring county.

- There must be some way of stopping de facto time outs started by goalkeepers suddenly needing attention of the physio. Teams seem happy to collude in this charade, which makes me wonder were any advantage comes from as the opposition are simultaneously having their own pep talk.

As the break approached, the Meadow was in sullen silence, with only barked instructions from the technical area piercing the air. A scoreless first half suited both sides, even if it was not that entertaining for the paying spectator. This was going to be a match decided on which team managed to capitalise on an isolated piece of quality or an unforced error from the opposition. When the goal it was nearer the latter. A long punt up field from the goalkeeper, a headed knockdown to the feet of Jordan Thomas who fired a shot through a gaggle of Town defenders and into the net. Less than ten minutes later, from a corner kick an unchallenged Sam Sherring netted to take the match well out of a lacklustre Salop’s grasp.

The home side had been guilty of their most uninspiring performance under the new head coach. The opposition gave them no space and prevented them from generating any momentum. The Cheltenham back line dominated in the air and continually killed any Salop attempts to forge opportunities in their halve. A bit of a learning experience for Major Cowan against a manager that has made a successful career out of winning terrible games of football.

Come the final whistle, Cotterill was quickly out of his technical area and, as he had done in the reverse fixture, circled the pitch applauding the Salop supporters. He must believe that every Salop fan is still in awe of him; in homes across Shropshire there is on the mantle piece or bookshelf there is a golden statuette of a figure in training gear with the letters SC emblazoned on them. The next time the doorbell rings unexpectedly it will not be someone offering to clean your block paving, prune your cherry tree or fix a slipped roof slate they have just noticed when passing. No, it will be Steve standing on the doorstep, inviting himself into your living room for a cup of tea and a slice of cake to reminisce about good times past.

His lap of honour complete, Cotterill returned to a dressing room that echoed to a hearty last laugh. That Cheltenham had eased themselves above Salop in the League Two table on goal difference making the moment that bit sweeter. Pause here though. With only the last few games of the season to go there is hardly a fag paper separating Cheltenham and Shrewsbury. Two clubs that would have been fearing the worst about their league status earlier in the season, now reasonably safe and looking towards the next campaign. Cotterill might have outwitted Cowan on this occasion, but Salop supporters see the first as the past and the second as the future. One senses that the next time the two teams meet there will only be the unofficial championship of the Welsh Marches up for grabs.

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Chesterfield: Hemming; Owolabi-Belewu (Pearce 72’); Swinkels; McFadzean; Curtis; Stirk (Dobra 46’ [Y]); Naylor (Mandeville 72’); Berry (Dickson 78’); Braybrooke; Markanday; Grigg (Bonis 71’).

Unused substitutes: Donaclen; Dunkley.

Scorers: Naylor (31’); Pearce 85’).

Shrewsbury: Cox [Y]; Stubbs; Boyle; Anderson; Berkoe; Kabia; Morgan (Lloyd 76’); Freeman (Perry 55’); Sang; McDermott (Scully 65’); Ogunsuyi [Y].

Unused substitutes: Benning; Brook; England; Lee.

Scorers: Ogunsuyi (45’+2, 70’); Stubbs (90’+3).

Match officials: Referee – Mr A Dale; Assistants – Mr D Dutton & Mr K Hughes; Fourth – Mr D Rock.

Attendance: 8,118.

Late last year I was at Theatre Severn to see Professor David Olusoga deliver a talk about the history of the gun. One of his themes was how firearm terminology has embedded itself deep into our daily discourse. For example, pulling the trigger of a flintlock started a process where a small amount of gunpowder in the lock-pan ignited, creating a flash that detonated the main charge and fired the musket ball. Often the initial firing failed to ignite the main charge, so the gunpowder flared up without the bullet being fired. All that was created was “a flash in the pan”: a spectacle with no impact.

With Salop’s five in a row (olé, olé) having come to an end with the Walsall defeat, the moment had come to see if the Cowan revival was little more than a flash in the pan. A visit to Chesterfield was no easy prospect; in the midweek the play-off contenders had overpowered Colchester to win 3-0 with some comfort. For Salop, the buildup to the match had revealed that the Walsall match had produced two significant setbacks: that the appeal against Josh Ruffels’ red card had been rejected and he would serve a four-match suspension; the injury sustained by Luca Hoole meant that the defender would be out of action for some time. Thus, Salop had been deprived of two ‘five-in-a-row’ stalwarts, leaving some big gaps in the team to fill.

The Major was faced with a big decision about central defence. The obvious change was to recall Sam Stubbs and Tom Anderson to join up with Will Boyle for a stately reunion tour. This solution, though, had the curse of Old Moore written all over it. Looking for a viable alternative, several fans made contorted efforts to fashion a back three containing Temple Ojinnaka, Isaac Lee and even Tom Sang. However, Gavin Cowan decided to play it straight and the names Anderson, Boyle and Stubbs appeared on his team sheet.

A further four changes had been made to the starting line-up against Walsall. Taylor Perry, Mal Benning and George Lloyd dropped to the bench and Sam Clucas would be playing no part in proceedings. Starting in their places were Nick Freeman, Ismeal Kabia, Tommy McDermott and Trey Ogunsuyi. Cowen was cocooning his back three with all the pace he had available. Anthony Scully was back on the bench after injury and two players that had been forgotten in all the recent excitement – Isaacs England and Lee – were also there to be called upon.

How the starting eleven fitted into the Major’s battleplan immediately became apparent. Rather like Sir Keir Starmer’s support for the USA’s war on Iran, Salop were set up for defensive, not offensive, attacks. Berkoe and Kabia were not being played as wingbacks, but full backs that would try and get forward on the break. Their mobility was being primarily used to cover for the centre backs. Salop were going to dominate out of possession, getting players behind the ball to frustrate Chesterfield’s attacking options. As an offensive force they would concentrate on playing on the break, banking on the pacier players being incisive in their forward runs.

This tactic was not without risk, but for the first thirty minutes it was effective. The home side dominated possession, pushing the ball up the field using the full width of the pitch. The Salop team was squeezed backwards as Chesterfield advanced as if they were slowly turning the handle of a vice. Balls were then being tossed into the box like hand grenades, Town’s back three constantly being called on to repel the aerial assault. Given the pattern the game had settled into, there was an element of surprise about the move that ended the initial deadlock. Mark Markanday had possession deep on the right, and managing to elude the attentions of Kevin Berkoe and Iwan Morgan, sent in a low cross that Tom Naylor controlled and then hit past Matt Cox into the net.

The away section sat in stoney silence; the match was shaping up to be a reprise of the pre-Cowan Salop, chasing the game with limited attacking options. Chesterfield buzzed with confidence and set about adding to their lead, and while they seemed the more likely to score Town were quietly getting into some good positions. Tom Anderson had earlier sustained a head wound which required bandaging. Consequently, there were three blood stained minutes to add on to the first half. Having won a free kick out wide in the middle third, Tom Sang hit the free kick long, and much to the surprise of everyone including the Chesterfield defence, Ogunsuyi rose from a line of players and despatched his free header past a motionless Zach Hemming and into the net. It took a couple of seconds to realise that the eyes had not deceived – Salop had equalised. Immediately from the kick off pink shirts were on the attack again, with McDermott’s attempt at goal being blocked. The visitors could have gone into the break with a lead.

Chesterfield resumed after the break with the same intent that they had shown in the first period. The vice like press up field was still allowing them most of the possession, and they looked to regain the lead by continuing to fire the ball into the box: long-range efforts from outside the box evidently verboten. With a mixture of good defending and good fortune Salop kept the hosts at bay and even managed to carve out a couple of set piece opportunities of their own. When the next goal came, however, it was Ogunsuyi that conjured it out of nowhere with a piece of gold-plated opportunism. Salop conceded a throw-in deep in the Chesterfield half. The ball was thrown backwards to Will Dickson who lingered over his square pass to Hemming sufficiently to allow Ogunsuyi to press him. Hemming at the near post took a touch and was about to clear the ball, but with a burst of pace Ogunsuyi got to it a fraction of a second before the Chesterfield ‘keeper and nudged it over the goal line.

Ogunsuyi became the youngest Salop player to score a brace in a league match since Tom Bradshaw scored two at Valley Parade fifteen years ago. More immediately he had turned this game around. Town now had something to defend, and they went about this with some relish. A few fans in the away section got concerned about the team falling back too deep – although I think this was the plan all along. With the clock ticking down three points were a lip-smacking prospect, although a single point would have been a decent return in the circumstances. With five minutes remaining Chesterfield were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area and Tom Pearce stepped up with a precision delivery that screamed into the top corner of the goal.

Salop now had to defend at the risk of ending up with nothing and the match descended into a series of disjoined attacks from both sides. Into five minutes added on and Salop needed to defend back-to-back corner kicks. From the second the visitors managed to break up their right, Kabia putting in a surging run that cumulated with him being fouled what could only have been millimetres short of Town’s first penalty in the league this season. Sang delivered the free kick high across goal and Stubbs rose and his headed connection saw the ball loop past Hemming into the net.

Gavin Cowan’s side had secured a third consecutive away victory despite circumstances dictating several changes to the starting line-up. This is not a team on a lucky streak, but rather a group of players being coached to perform at a higher level than they have previously managed. For instance, as someone who has seen every match so far this season, I have always managed a wry smile when opposition managers refer to our excellence at set pieces. Since the start of February eleven of Salop’s fourteen league goals have come from set piece play (five free kicks, four throws, a direct free kick and one from a corner kick). Iwan Morgan’s goal against Walsall was Salop’s first direct from a free kick since Jordan Shipley netted against Wycombe in December 2024.

Salop have now won six out of their last seven, which is more than the five wins notched up in the first twenty-nine matches of the season. Since the start of February, no League Two side has matched Town’s six wins, or fourteen goals. Such statistics indicate something that is much more than a flash in the pan: a significant improvement in performance levels.

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It was the worst of times, it was the best of times… Now if Charles Dickens was writing a book about this Salop season – ‘A Tale of Two Towns’ naturally – he could do worse than start by reordering one of his most famous opening lines. This would give justice to a turnaround in fortunes without parallel in my experience as a Town supporter.

Only six weeks ago I had just finished a sketch of Salop’s visit to Cambridge when my smartphone pinged with the news that Michael Appleton had left by mutual consent. This was not what I had been expecting – my hunch was that he would get at least a month to work with the players recruited during the January transfer window, but not for the first (nor certainly the last) time my hunch was pointing completely in the wrong direction. If I had a worry about Appleton’s tenure, it was not that he would oversee the ultimate relegation out of the EFL, but more that I could not really see that he would be able to engineer a sustained recovery in Salop’s fortunes. Town would very probably finish outside the bottom two this time round, but next season would we continue to be dependent on there being two worse teams to retain a football league place.

Even when the January window opened, I started to sense vibes that suggested Salop’s next manager would be Gavin Cowan. There was a logic in such an appointment; unfortunately, it was that a fresh start under an enthusiastic manager with extensive knowledge of the National League would be a good fit for a club that had just been relegated into the National League. I did not share the common view that appointing Cowan was an act of desperation that would lead to disaster. My own feeling was that it might be a good move in trying to give Salop some purpose beyond mere survival, but it did not come without a massive, existential, risk.

Well, six weeks on the landscape has not so much been changed but flattened in a manner that would suggest that the Northwest Relief Road was going to be built after all. As we returned home after defeat at Colchester the predominant topic of conversation was where were the six wins required to hit forty points going to come from. Incredibly, five of the six came in the next five games: Barrow at home; Swindon at home; Notts County at home; Accrington Stanley away; Salford City away. How on earth did such a turnabout come about.

Funnily enough, it was partly due to something that many clever football fans are inclined to dismiss – ‘the new manager bounce’. This was a case a set of players who were not performing, responding to a new style of leadership. Suddenly players that had been drifting towards the end of their contracts on the fringe of the first team sensed that a new start was possible. Quickly players were being asked to perform in the positions that most suited them and being asked to execute a battleplan based on teamwork and knowing precisely what was expected of them. One sensed that Appleton’s Shrewsbury was him trying to mould a set of players into something that they were not. By contrast, Cowan was more comfortable with the three central defender formations that the squad had been constructed for and as a result it was easier for him to get a message across and get the players to buy into it. In the head coach’s oft repeated mantra – he wanted the players to be the best versions of themselves, that is play to their strengths. (Incidentally, I would like to be the best version of a myself that is four inches taller and has a full head of hair.)

A run of five victories on the trot was, therefore, a result of giving motivation to the unmotivated, providing a clear structure and battleplan that allowed players know their role and be confident in performing that role and, critically, making the most of any luck going. During the run Cowan had the misfortune of losing to injury his two top goalscorers – John Marquis and Anthony Scully. As things worked out this allowed Iwan Morgan to come in and score three in four matches. Sometimes being forced to make changes are an opportunity.

The winning streak has transformed the atmosphere amongst supporters. They have enjoyed what they have seen and are relieved not to be haunted so much by the threat of relegation. Of course, as Cowan is at pains to point out, a team is not safe from relegation until it is a mathematical impossibility, and the head coach will not be thinking about next season until fifty points are on the board. However, for Salop to be relegated now three of the teams in the bottom four would have to gain four wins on Town and that seems unlikely now games are starting to run out. Unlikely, but not impossible.

Earlier I referred to a ‘new manager bounce’. Salop taking fifteen points out of five matches in fifteen days is probably a bounce worthy of being in the Guiness Book of Records. The takeaway from Salop’s transformation is that in the right circumstances a new manager can produce a bounce in results but just do not expect that every new manager will bring such a rapid upturn in fortunes. It all depends on the circumstances and personalities involved.

Charles Dickens’ most famous novels were usually first published as serials in magazines. Each episode would end with a cliff-hanger, and readers would be impatient to find out where the story went next. All a bit like following a football club really. Salop fans are already waiting for the next instalment of A Tale of Two Towns, for once with a measure of excitement.

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