Shrewsbury Town 1-0 Notts County

In an exciting match in which both competitors gave good accounts of themselves and played positive attacking football, the ultimate match objective of three points was claimed by Shrewsbury, as they managed to pierce the Notts defence just the once, enough to claim the 1-0 win and leave the beleaguered Magpies with a risible ten points from seventeen league games. Shaun Derry opted for the following players in the starting eleven:

Bartosz Bialkowski, Alan Sheehan, captain Gary Liddle, Manny Smith, Kieron Freeman, Callum McGregor, Joss Labadie, Andre Boucaud, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Danny Haynes, and Marcus Haber.

Meanwhile, the subs' bench consisted of Fab Speiss, Haydn Hollis, Greg Tempest, Ronan Murray, David Bell, Jack Grealish, and Enoch Showunmi.

Notable are the absences of Dean Leacock and Yoann Arquin. Mark Fotheringham however was suspended, the journeyman incurring his fifth yellow card of the season against Wolves, triggering a one-match ban.

The first few minutes saw Freeman carry out some great defensive work to thwart the attacking Shrewsbury players, while Haber, assisted by Liddle, fired a powerful shot, which was well saved by Shrews keeper Chris Weale.

On 13 minutes, centurion Sheehan, on his 100th Notts appearance, swung in a dangerous corner, which was cleared by Parry, while JCR fired over just a few minutes later. Plenty of clearances from both sides meant the first quarter of an hour saw very few shots on goal.

Things would pick up soon after, as Liddle headed another Sheehan corner into the net for a goal… until the referee disallowed it for a suspected push in the box.

Around half an hour in, a Boucaud tackle from Aaron Wildig led to the Shrews midfielder picking up an injury and having to be substituted. His replacement, Preston loanee Nicky Wroe, powered a shot towards the Notts goal not long after coming on, but Bart saved.

More attempts against the Notts keeper came as Adam Reach forced him into a save, before a corner kick fell to Gozie Ugwu, who smashed the ball against the crossbar.

The half would however end with Notts on the ascendancy, as Smith headed wide in injury time before, as the last action of the half, Haynes’ header was deflected off the Shrews line.

The second half began in energetic fashion, with JCR playing a great ball towards Haber, who fired wide. The pendulum would swing back and forth for a period as Ugwu marauded forward with intent, but he wasn’t able to find anyone with his ball, before JCR had a shot of his own at the other end.

Notts were let off as a Shrews corner, just a minute later, was headed towards goal by Darren Jones, whistling just wide. Ugwu had the potential to cause damage shortly afterwards, with a powerful drive, but fired over.

Approaching the hour mark, McAlinden was next to attempt a shot, but Bart gathered successfully, before a Paul Parry drive was stopped by Bart, being called into action more often than he should be. Ugwu attempted a cheeky back-heel into the net, but this was cleared.

Just a minute later, it was onto the other end of the pitch as Notts then plugged away, with JCR and McGregor making nuisances of themselves.

The former then proceeded to beat his marker on 66 and fire through a crowd of players, Weale again saving.

Eventually, the deadlock was broken, a given after all those chances from both sides, but sadly for Notts fans, it was the home side that took the lead. Disappointing because Notts had been on the up, but Adam Reach fired low after Ugwu's header landed towards him.

For a while, it was all Shrewsbury, McAlinden, Ugwu, and Joe Jacobson taking turns tormenting Notts’ back line, but Notts fought back and surprisingly were not able to score, given the calibre of some of their chances. Substitute Jack Grealish was all set to tap the ball home after it fell to him, but somehow, it didn’t go in.

Leading up to full time, Greg Tempest, another sub, had a chance from a cleared JCR shot, but once against the Shrews defence was steadfast.

Injury time saw Notts throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the home side, with Sheehan, Boucaud and third sub Enoch Showunmi all trying desperately to get that cursed equalising goal.

However, this wasn't to be. The Shrews couldn't be tamed, and in an exciting match where much will be said of Notts’ play, it’s a mortifyingly familiar story as once again we leave a football pitch, Meadow Lane or elsewhere, with nothing to show for our efforts, nul points.