00:00Salop fans welcome to ShropshireStarter.com my name is Johnny Drury I'm here
00:05alongside Salop correspondent Oli Westbury on a memorable memorable night
00:11for Gareth Ainsworth and Shrewsbury Town. A nightmare week, your best players gone
00:15the transfer window is looking a bit of a bit up and down maybe a bit of a
00:20shramble some might say but they've turned up tonight almost a full house
00:25against the rivals unfancied and they have battled and battled John Marcus's
00:30double has earned them a 2-1 victory Oli up to up to around five points off
00:37League One safety now what a night Shrewsbury thoroughly thoroughly deserve
00:42that. My best night in the job with hands down I've never seen the crowd
00:48meadow quite like that first John Marcus goal when he when he fired it behind
00:52Arthur on Conquo absolutely brilliant strike to give Shrewsbury the lead but
00:57so positive it just absolutely erupted you could hear the Shrewsbury fans
01:00obviously chanting and like I say I've just never heard anything quite like it
01:06disappointing that they conceded you know quite so soon like straight after
01:09it but you know they've hurried they ran and they and Gareth Ainsworth has said
01:13right from the start you know they've got to give everything you know they've
01:16got to give everything the players and and you just cannot fault them to a man
01:19absolutely outstanding superb we've spent so much time doing these videos
01:24after games before games and doing podcasts and it's all been so negative
01:29but since Gareth has come in the team you can't fault them you can't fault the
01:33effort and as long as the players go out and give 100% then you can't ask for
01:37any more and that was just absolutely brilliant against Wrexham the story
01:41behind Wrexham and the way that they've caught through the leagues I think makes
01:46it even more even more sweeter especially for the fans so I'm delighted
01:51I'm not just delighted for Gareth I'm not just delighted for the players but
01:53everybody connected with the club it's been a it's been a horrible week it's
01:56been a really tough week you know players going the best player Tom
02:01blocks from leaving obviously players being recalled he's kind of thinking at
02:04one stage you know just just two or three hours before kickoff you see Tommy
02:07O'Reilly going back to Aston Villa and then going out on loan to MK Don so it's
02:12absolutely brilliant that they've managed to kind of despite that I mean
02:15I was convinced that we were going to lose tonight absolutely convinced that
02:18Shrewsbury weren't going to be able to given the way that momentum was going
02:21and the way that everything felt like it was going it felt like Shrewsbury had
02:24very little chance again a result in this one but no absolutely brilliant the
02:29way that Gareth Haynesworth just seems to and it's very almost Steve Cottrell-esque
02:33the way that despite what's going on he manages to get them players up for it
02:37and he manages to get them running through absolute brick walls for him and
02:40you know it reminds me a little bit of that team that we saw in 2022-2023
02:44you just said there you didn't fancy him tonight who did call a victory before the
02:48game I'm not saying I know what I'm on about like but you said 1-0 I said 1-0
02:52and then I turned to a Shrewsbury member of staff at halftime and said 2-1 and it did
02:57end up 2-1 it was John Marcus with that goal really early in the second half
03:01Oli it was we've mentioned there about him battling and playing for Gareth
03:06Haynesworth I'm sure in the back of Gareth Haynesworth's mind he knows this side is
03:09kind of devoid of enough quality in certain areas that's why they're in the
03:14relegation zone but if they're going to get out of this battle they're probably not going to do it with quality
03:20they're going to do it with fight, desire and you know you can see that they're battling
03:23at times under Paul Hirst towards the end you know when a manager it's not
03:27going well for a manager you kind of maybe question certain players but out
03:31there tonight Haynesworth certainly kicked every ball he looked like he had enough energy to play in the middle of the park
03:35but he's getting every single ounce out of these players isn't he?
03:39I mean yeah you can't fault them you know obviously they had that brilliant result 3-2 victory over Birmingham when they first came in
03:47obviously Richard Dobson and Gareth Haynesworth and obviously that was a brilliant result
03:51then there was the back-to-back 4-1 defeat that was a real low point I put that in one of my low points of 2024 to be honest
03:57it really did feel quite low at that stage but since then they've just shored it up haven't they?
04:01I mean yes they probably have lost a little bit of attacking threat that goes with it
04:05they probably don't quite look like scoring perhaps as much as they did
04:09even though you know in the last six games they've scored in five of them or whatever it is
04:14I think they've scored in all but one of Haynesworth's games in charge
04:18but that kind of threat that they did have at one stage has kind of gone a little bit more
04:23obviously they've scored today kind of capitalised on a mistake from O'Connell who George Lloyd gave the absolute run around
04:29but I think I've said it to you and I've banged the drum all season long on the podcast about how they need to try and tighten up at the back
04:36and then now it's ones and noughts and if you get ones and noughts
04:39I can remember Michael Duff saying it at Huddersfield earlier in the season in his post-match press conference
04:44if you concede one or you concede none then you've got a chance
04:47but at one stage Shrewsbury were conceding at least a minimum of two goals every single game
04:52they did that for a significant period and because they've managed to tighten up at the back
04:58and it's through players that are in the building
05:01it's not through getting new players in, it's the same players
05:07so obviously the goalkeepers are new
05:12but you know what I mean, the back five themselves are players that have been here since the start of the season
05:16and have been absolutely superb
05:18so I'm absolutely delighted today, I'm really really pleased
05:22everybody connected to the football club, I'm fed up of being negative
05:25I've had enough of it, so yeah, happy days, beat Wrexham, get in there
05:29We'll talk a lot more about what's gone on this week and dissect tonight's performance in more detail
05:35tomorrow on Shrewsbury's podcast
05:38Good plug, hopefully the viewers will be through the roof tomorrow
05:43but just finally Ollie, you said you're fed up of writing about negative things
05:47the challenge now is for Shrewsbury to go and replicate that
05:50I heard a steward actually up there say why can't we play like that every week
05:53well football kind of doesn't work like that, can they set the bar
06:01oh sorry, it looks like we might just have to move it
06:05a bit of a goal, sorry we'll put that little clip on our bloopers reel
06:09we've got a few salad youngsters doing a goal pass
06:12we'll leave it in the video anyway, we'll put it in the bloopers reel at the end of the season
06:16I've never seen this before, they're off playing football and they're training on the pitch
06:21they should be at home really, warming up
06:24but yeah, challenge is to not only keep you happy and keep yourself positive
06:29it's to do that every week isn't it, that is the big challenge
06:32that's the hardest thing now is to go and replicate what they've done tonight
06:35difficult game next week in Charlton, they've got to back that up haven't they
06:39after a fantastic result this evening
06:42so yeah, that is the challenge, they've got to make sure they go and do that now
06:47and build on it, five points from safety
06:50obviously they've probably played a game extra now
06:53so those results will change at the weekend won't they
06:56when we're in football matches, when Shrewsbury are off, they've got three days off now
06:59a chance to rest up and maybe some players through the door
07:03over the course of the weekend, or over the course of next week
07:06and Shrewsbury will be fit-firing and ready to go
07:09because they did take some of the bruises today as well
07:11so it'll be really important that they make sure to do that
07:13Gareth Amesworth's already given Shrewsbury some memorable afternoons in games so far
07:18and he's given them the best one of the season
07:21tonight against the old rivals Wrexham
07:23a 2-1 victory here for Salop, you know where to go for all the rest of your reaction
07:26head over to ShropshireStar.com
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