Are you Wrexham in disguise?

We are the Ipswich Shrews - Lewis, Mike and Adam. Exile shrews following the town up and down the land!

….Date: Tuesday 20^th September 2011

….Arsenal v Shrewsbury

….3^rd round of the Carling Cup

….and 5100 Shrews fans invade north London.

What a night, fantastic moments and memories that we will all remember.

Passion, exciting football, amazing goal and scenes that followed…and the chant of you’re getting sacked in the morning and are you Wrexham in disguise.

 

It's 1-1 at half time. Chance for a breather and to remember - we were 1 - 0 up at the Arsenal!

 

And what a place to be with over 5000 Shrewsbury blue and amber supporters; great night for the club.

Blog 3 of 1
Lewis Jones

http://ipswichshrews.blogspot.com/

This is why we go to watch football!

As we left Ipswich on Saturday morning for Shrewsbury v Hereford, we were optimistic that there could be a good chance of getting three points and maybe by two or three goals.

For each trip we make we often run through our ideal game scenario that if all falls in to place will bring home the three points.

1. An early goal
2. Get the second goal before half time….or straight after half time
3. Maybe a third fairly soon after
4. And a bonus fourth goal from Jermaine Grandison after a run and his 100^th step over!

Ok, reality check is needed here; but perhaps what we are more certain with, is we can never really tell what’s going to happen.

Cue Saturday for an afternoon of total unpredictability

So as the teams line up we wait for the ideal start with an early goal.

6 minutes in and right on cue Marvin Morgan out forts his marker to get on the end of a Grandison ball, kept his balance to round the keeper and slide the ball in to the empty net; the perfect start 1 – 0.

Shrewsbury continued to pass the ball with ease. Both wingers Mark Wright and Lionel Ainsworth getting time on the ball; Nicky Wroe dictating the play between defence and strikers - who themselves Morgan and Terry Gornell ran the channels. 

Surprisingly Hereford allowed Town to play, very little pressure on the ball making the first half quite comfortable - but could we get the second goal before soon?

Our wait wasn’t long straight after half time on 48 minutes; Mark Wright diverts Sean McAllister’s miscue strike into the top corner. 2 - 0 to Shrewsbury.

It was almost 3 - 0 minutes later when a Marvin Morgan goal bound header was disallowed after Mark Wright was flagged for offside.

Going to well isn;t it? well the football gods decided to through in a banna skin or to be truthful a Terry Gornell knug-fu style jump int to Hereford’s keeper Cornell. Red card given and rightly so. Suddenly a lifeline for the Bulls, could they find a way back into the game?

Cue more drama, while Shrewsbury took time to re-organise, Hereford took the initiative, gaining possession and creating chances. 73 minutes goal for Hereford by Barkhuizen; 2 – 1.

The game now was sparking into derby chaotic action with chances either end - culminating with a bizarre moment. Shrewsbury keeper Ben Smith cleared a through ball into the path of Hereford striker Delroy Facey who from nearly 40 yards out played in a dipping shot towards the open goal to make it 2 –2. But where moments ago the football gods seemed to want to take the three points away from Shrewsbury there was a change of mind – or was in a very rare uneven bounce on the Greenhous carpet – whatever it was it was the Shrewsbury fans celebrating after seeing Facey’s effort bounced down and up on the Shrewsbury’s cross bar denying Hereford from making it 2 – 2. One big piece of luck – well we all need that!

Normal service resumed minutes later when Morgan picked up a pass from Ainsworth to cut in drive low beneath the keeper; 3 – 1 to Shrewsbury and there could have been more, with further chances for Collins and Nicky Wroe.

Now that was one game no one could predict - though we did win by two or three goals, so almost right.

Blog 2 of 1
Lewis Jones

http://ipswichshrews.blogspot.com/

Fast train to Paris? No thanks, Gillingham please

With less than 12 months to the 2012 London Olympics and not having tickets to see any of the events, I have wondered what benefits I would get from the ‘greatest show on earth’.

I will no doubt enjoy watching the mix of sports from home and take in local activities in Ipswich to mark the Olympics. Yet it is thanks to the Olympics and a new International rail connection built next to the Olympic Park, that we sampled our first real benefit - high-speed travel.

Having begun last Saturday by train from Ipswich to Stratford, (Olympic Park site), we then embarked on a new way to follow Shrewsbury; a high-speed service in style and with ease to Gillingham!

And yes, while we waited for the South Eastern high speed service, several Eurostar services whooshed passed as fast as Lionel Ainsworth bound for Paris or Brussels. Moments later it was our time rocketing at speeds of 140mph (so say’s South Eastern Railway’s website) underneath queuing traffic on the M25 / QE2 bridge, along the North Kent coast arriving 30 minutes later in Gillingham.

On to the game and an excellent team performance was built on high-speed like reactions from keeper Ben Smith – who dived low to save Gill’s Danny Kedwell’s first half penalty. In the second half Salop created a number of good chances and we should have had the result secured before relying on late, late drama.

90+ 3 added minutes: Another penalty, this time for Shrewsbury slotted home with assurance by Nicky Wroe, 1 – 0. But no, another twist, a Shrewsbury player, doing a Usain Bolt by being too quick and getting penalised for encroachment.

Retake is required. All 168 of us in the Brain Moore Stand look on; and with no hesitation Nicky Wroe sends the Gills keeper the wrong way, and the first away win in the league is there. Late drama v Gillingham; where’ve we seen that before?

Blog 1 of 1
Lewis Jones
http://ipswichshrews.blogspot.com