THE GAME
Following the disappointing result, and performance, at Huddersfield manager Matt Taylor made four changes to his starting lineup for this game against a Shrewsbury side as desperate for points as Rovers.
In came Lino Sousa, Ruel Sotiriou, Connor Taylor and Shaq Forde, and making way were Clinton Mola, Grant Ward, Bryant Bilongo and Jack Hunt.
Rovers began brightly and Forde, in a one on one situation with Toby Savin, saw the keeper come out on top before the visitors fashioned an excellent chance but former Rovers striker John Marquis was foiled by a superb double save by Josh Griffiths.
There was a let off for Shrewsbury when Savin misjudged a corner from the left, allowing the ball to slip through his hands. He was fortunate that it hit the post and rebounded into play – it could have been an embarrassing mistake!
George Lloyd had two opportunities to put Shrewsbury in front, but his first effort was blocked by Kamil Conteh while he dragged his second attempt wide of goal and so the first half of an open game ended goalless.
Seven minutes into the second half Rovers took the lead following an excellent move that saw Promise Omochere lay the ball off to Sotiriou
who, in turn, found Forde and his cut back foud Lindsay who curled a stunning shot into the top corner of the net, giving Savin no chance at all of saving.
Omochere might have doubled Rovers lead on 68 minutes, but when he was played in by Forde he saw his shot clip the crossbar and drop behind the goal. Three minutes later the striker forced a fine save from Savin, while at the other end the striker made a goal line clearance to prevent Pierre’s header from crossing the line.
Shrewsbury, desperate for an equaliser, came more into the game following a quadruple substitution and exerted a great deal of pressure on Rovers back line. They thought they had equalised in the 89th minute when Tom Bloxham fired home from the edge of the area, but their celebrations were cut short after referee Scott Simpson, following a lengthy chat with his assitsant, ruled it out as Marquis was standing in an offside position.
There was still time for one last effort from Rovers and Luke Thomas, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, smashed a thunderbolt of a shot against the crossbar.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘We started the game well, in fact we couldn’t have started any better and we should probably have been ahead in that first half an hour. Then there was a strange period before half time where the game plateaued a little bit.
‘We lost a little bit of our energy, the crowd lost a little bit of their enthusiasm, and it just kind of went through a dead moment. We started the second half brightly again and the goal came at a really good time. We should probably have added to it and made it a more comfortable finish to the game.
‘It’s our first clean sheet since the Cambridge match. I think we had three out of the first four, and then it takes a long time to come again. I think we deserved the clean sheet tonight. I know we had the pressure at the end, but Josh hasn’t had a lot of saves to make.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
‘I think three points is all that matters. I thought we started really well and could have gone one or two goals ahead then we probably had a little bit of a lull in the final 15 minutes of the first half.
‘But in the second half I thought we thoroughly deserved to win. We could have gone two, three, or four goals ahead but we didn’t. Then, as always seems to happen in football, when you don’t take your chances, you come under a little bit of pressure and we had to dig in at the end.
‘We’re under no illusions about the feeling around the club at the moment, off the back of the defeat on Saturday, but tonight all that mattered was the three points. In the grand scheme of things we are on 16 points now and the league is very tight. You can win one and move up a few places and it’s the same if you lose – you drop a few places.’ (Rovers defender Connor Taylor)
‘I think John Marquis was offside as he was in an offside position, but I am probably in the same position as a lot of people. I do not understand the rules any more. I saw a goal given for Manchester City at the weekend when a similar situation arose. My opinion is that the goal should stand, otherwise I think all you re going to do is get teams to put a player near the keeper and all they are going to do is run out and say he’s offside.
‘John is ten yards out, maybe and is nowhere near the keeper who almost apologised for not seeing the ball and not diving. It’s a tough one to take. Clearly, that’s the way our luck is going at the moment. Is it even luck or is it decisions against us? I just think that it was an extremely harsh decision to disallow that goal.’ (Shrewsbury Head Coach Paul Hurst)
