Football League One
The New Meadow, Shrewsbury
Admission: £20.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 5,995 (518 away)
Today I ticked off my 88th ground of the 92, a ground that ideally I would have wanted to tick off when Charlton contested the play-off semi-finals there last season, but no longer being a Charlton season ticket holder meant that I did not come close to being able to purchase a ticket for that game. But there were no such issues obtaining a ticket for this match - the only slight issue of concern would be if the January weather were to be too severe to put the match at risk. But with relatively mild and dry conditions currently prevailing, that would not be an issue today.
The New Meadow is located a couple of miles south of Shrewsbury train station and town centre, but I caught the Charlton supporters coach from Bromley direct to the back of the away stand. Situated on the very outskirts of the town, green countryside surrounds the southern side of the ground, whilst a supermarket is located at the entrance into the stadium complex, and a retail park behind a train line on the western side. The stadium has a large car park to the front, with the ticket office and club shop on the ground floor next to the main entrance to the main stand. A fanzone was allocated an area outside of the stadium, offering a mobile bar, music and burger van, with a tent provided for fans to mingle inside and out. Whilst the club deserves credit for developing such a facility, on a cold winter's day like today, it did look a little sad, sparsely populated and various vans plonked into position. Inside, the stadium consists of four standalone stands, all very similar in size and design, although the main stand has some corporate boxes and a press area in the middle at the rear, and the stand behind one of the goals housing home fans has had some rail seating installed along the rear, to enable "safe standing", the first club in England to do so. Only installed at the start of this season, hopefully this will prove a big success and will see the reintroduction of "safe standing" throughout the Football League (and even Premier League). Away fans are allocated the stand behind the opposite goal. All of the stands are single tiered and offer excellent views, with no obstructing pillars. All in all, it's a comfortable, well appointed modern stadium that has been constructed to a sensible size in relation to the club's following. The 84 page programme was well designed and a very good read with an acceptable level of advertising.
Times have certainly changed since these two clubs met in the play-off semi finals in May, when Shrewsbury prevailed, after finishing 16 points above Charlton in the regular season, only to lose in the final at Wembley. Having lost their manager Paul Hurst and many of their better players from last season, and the replacement manager John Askey being sacked in November, Shrewsbury came into this game down in 16th place, following seven wins and nine draws from their opening 26 league games, and were just three points clear of the relegation zone, but they did come into this game unbeaten in their last ten home games. Despite Charlton's current woes behind the scenes, with an owner who has lost all interest in the club but a takeover has been over a year in waiting now and still seems no nearer fruition, with no CEO in place, and hardly any permanent player signings being made as the club remains in a state of limbo, manager Lee Bowyer is doing a quite remarkable job in getting his threadbare squad in the hunt for promotion. They came into this game in fourth place, following 14 wins and five draws from their opening 27 league games, three points inside the play-off positions and five points adrift of an automatic spot. The two clubs have already met in the reverse fixture back in August, which an injury time goal securing a 2-1 win for Charlton.
On a grey, chilly afternoon, this game was quite open in the early stages, with both teams carving out decent chances, and Shrewbury were denied by an excellent save by Charlton's keeper Dillon Phillips' legs from low shot from 8 yards on 21 minutes. But on 25 minutes, the visitors took the lead. A corner was sent in, flicked on and headed by a defender onto his own post, with the ball bouncing back across the goal line, Lyle Taylor was on hand to tap the ball home. The game steadied down after that, and only in first half stoppage time did Shrewsbury have another shot on goal, Ryan Haynes firing in a shot from just outside the area which forced a smart save at full stretch by the Charlton keeper.
Although Charlton had the upper hand overall during the first half, Shrewsbury had their chances too, but Charlton almost completely dominated proceedings after the break, and the only criticism would be that the end result perhaps should have been rather more emphatic. Just two minutes after the break, a poor back pass was seized upon by Karlan Grant, who raced towards goal one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his eventual shot was parried, on on 51 minutes, he raced onto a throughball by Taylor, but his low shot went just wide of the post. But Charlton did double their lead on 55 minutes, Darren Pratley lashing home a lovely first time shot from the edge of the area past the keeper's dive. They had several very good chances to extend their lead further, with Grant having another one-on-one denied by the keeper, but on 80 minutes, Grant, who did have an excellent game despite missing two one-on-ones, raced from the half-way line and was eventually tripped inside the penalty area. Grant took the penalty himself, firing low into the bottom left corner. Shrewsbury did belatedly up their game in the remaining minutes, although it was Charlton who looked likely to score again. They didn't, but they can be pleased with securing the double over Shrewsbury with a thoroughly convincing and quite comfortable victory, as their push for a play-off berth accelerated. It was a poor performance from Shrewsbury today, and they will need to improve if they are to avoid falling into the relegation trap door.
Video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here
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