Shrewsbury Town 1-3 Reading: The Taming Of The Shrew

The Royals see off a stubborn Salop to make it two wins from two in Shropshire.

I just about made kick-off for this game, having been at Prospect Park watching my son train for about three hours in surprisingly Baltic conditions. Instantly, I knew the guy on comms would be an irritant, purely by the way he pronounced “Mbengway”.

Reading (4-3-3): Pereira; Yiadom, Mbengue, Bindon, Garcia; Knibbs, Wing, Savage; Camara, Ehibhatiomhan, Campbell

Subs: Button, Abrefa, Stickland, Rushesha, Carroll, Bodin, Wareham

The game started with a flurry of action: some crisp passing from us, some general horseplay from them, a nice shot from Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan on the five-minute mark which was eventually and correctly given as a corner kick.

Mamadi Camara was a lively as salmon upstream, earning another corner put in. I tried to replay the shot by rewinding the footage as the cat was trying to eat my Easter egg and that distracted me, but I ended up accidentally freezing the whole box and, in the end, gave up. I presume the corner came to nothing as we didn’t score or anything.

Young Charlie Savage had a nice effort swung in from right-hand side but it floated delicately past the post and out for a goalie’s ball. The Shrews were staring to apply some pressure on us, like a trainee plumber on a u-bend, but we were able to stand up well to it. With 15 minutes on the clock, it was clear this was not going to be a classic. At all.

Tyler Bindon was gifted a yellow card, presumably because he’s excellent and the football world is jealous of him. The Shrews were in the ascendency and we were scrabbling around defensively to keep the ball out of the net.

And then of course, out of absolutely nowhere (well, against the run of play anyway), Lewis Wing rattled one in for 0-1. A really naughty swerve on the ball befuddled the ‘keeper and the Royals were able to celebrate a delicious lead in a game that was a rather large pineapple skin.

On the 41st minute, Camara was inches away from doubling the lead. Ehibhatiomhan poked the ball back across the goal and Camara jabbed it towards goal. A combination of the goalie and a defender managed to spoon the ball over the bar.

Shortly after, Savage ploughed into the oppo like an eager farmer, causing the Shrews’ players to flick around the ref, waving their arms in the air like angry eagles. Was it a yellow? The ref thought so and gave him a card. It was clumsy more than malicious.

Camara was deemed to have given away another free-kick and, due to his previous booking, was given what I presume to be a final warning by the man in fluorescent yellow.

A simply stunning point-blank save by Joel Pereira kept us in the game at 1-0. Again defensively we seemed to make a mess of the basics but the big man in goal was there to defend the net to send us in to the water break one to the good.

Half time: 0-1

The start of the second half saw a double change with Jayden Wareham and Kelvin Abrefa in for Andre Garcia and naughty boy Camara.

Within moments of the restart, the home side equalised. The ball was played forward, everyone in red missed it and Perry was allowed to run through unopposed bodies, rounding Pereira and slotting into an empty net. 1-1. Not ideal by any stretch.

The Shrews were again at the heart of the main attacks in the game as a swift ball in from right was fired against the side netting.

Once again against the run of the play though, we were back in the lead. A missile of a ball was played forward by Savage and collected well by Ehibhatiomhan, who decided to embarrass the entire home defence, stringing them along like a rope of sausages and firing it into the net to send the travelling fans into raptures. A really good goal that. 1-2.

You know it’s getting to the business end of the season when the TV people chuck up an “as it stands” league table in play.

Andy Yiadom came close with a right footed banger that found the side netting. Chem Campbell close, cutting in on the right before Blackman got a strong to fist to push the ball over the bar. The Royals were asking all the right questions but were finding the answers less encouraging.

Reading broke swiftly after some desperate defending. Campbell released Wareham, who couldn’t quite get a connection shot-wise, so it was knocked back across by Wing to Campbell, who slotted home to make it 1-3.

I say slotted home: I’m pretty sure their ‘keeper just kicked it in to be honest. I don’t know as I didn’t see the replay but it looked like the shot was going well, well wide and Blackman not only helped it in, but gave it a warm meal, a shower and a free bed for the night, before giving it £100 in cash to help it get back on its feet. OG, all day long.

Big Billy Bodin came on for Ehibhatiomhan who’d had an enjoyable evening to say the least. To be fair to me and everyone reading this, I got distracted for the last 10 minutes. We were comfortable, I was comfortable, the league table was comfortable.

Mr Harvey Knibbs made way for Mr Tom Carroll and the game slid away peacefully, aside from an offside goal from Bodin, leaving everyone connected with the club happy and warm and, well, comfortable.

Part of me felt for the Shrews fans as they filtered away into the Shropshire evening. The other part of me just focussed on how important the win was and how important it could be come May 3.

We’re keeping pace with the other teams, doing what we can on the pitch and are proving, yet again, that we can get things done in the right way, despite all the noise off it. Long may that continue.

Until next time.