On my two previous visits with Pompey to the New Meadow we lost both games, yet for different reasons both were happy occasions. The first was in April 2013 when we were all in sheer relief as just a fortnight earlier the club was saved by PST.
Then on the day before Christmas Eve 2017, owing perhaps to the historic ambience of Shrewsbury, our travelling fans were in fine festive spirit. So I was particularly pleased when the fixtures were released that this away game was in Advent again.
Shrewsbury is a proud medieval and Tudor age town on the Welsh border with the River Severn looping around it. It’s a beautiful town to visit at the best of times, but in the run up to Christmas it’s an absolute must.
I set off from our Birmingham abode with my wife Ajit around 10:30am for the 47 mile drive on the M6, M54, A5 etc before parking near the Prince Of Wales pub on Bynner Street (just south east of the town centre) where we planned to visit after the game for the Northern Blues AGM function.
But first up was a 15 minute walk to see the Salopian sights themselves (as pictured below).
After walking through the main High Street, we popped into the splendid grounds (as pictured) of Shrewsbury Castle and up to Laura’s tower where some wonderful panoramic views can be enjoyed, including the Welsh mountains in the distance to the north west.
Then (as pictured below) facing east you have a splendid view across the town. If you look closely, between the main railway line into Shrewsbury station and the River Severn, you will notice some new looking townhouses. Well that piece of land is where Gay Meadow (former home of Shrewsbury Town FC) used to be.
Although its backdrop made it one of the most picturesque grounds in England, you can see how little wriggle room for redevelopment there was and how prone to flooding it was, hence the Shrews relocating out by the A5 to the New Meadow in 2007.
It also boasted surely football’s most famous ball boy (Fred Davies) who would sit in his coracle during their games and set off to retrieve any wayward balls that ended up in the adjacent river.
Plus a stat for Pompey folklore, Gay Meadow on a Tuesday night in May 1987 was of course the venue where Shrewsbury’s 2-0 win against Oldham Athletic officially confirmed our long awaited return to the old Division 1 (now Premier League) as the Latics could no longer catch Pompey with a game to spare.
Back to the sightseeing, there was still time to photo Shrewsbury’s impressive looking railway station, prison and abbey as pictured below.
By now it was about 1pm as we walked over to meet fellow Blues fan Adam and his family who were in a pub named after one of the town’s most famous sons, scientist Charles Darwin. We arrived at the Sutton Road hostelry for a soft drink (as I was the nominated driver) and to eat some food we grabbed en route.
It was great to finally meet Adam and chat about all things Pompey and hear about the success of PompeyNewsNow and PO4cast over the last decade. I look forward to catching up with him again at future games.
Ajit and I then made the 15 minute walk over to the New (Croud) Meadow. The stadium holds 9,875 and as you’d expect from a purpose built facility only 16 years old, it is very contemporary looking with ample parking on site.
The club has its own foundation behind the home end (South Stand), whilst behind the away end (North stand) is the community hub, several 5-a-side pitches, the fan zone and Smithy’s bar.
In the final year of my Media degree, I produced a documentary about the multi-faceted impact the Taylor Report has had on football clubs in the UK. Two of the key people in my documentary were Roger Groves and Mike Davis. Roger is the chairman of Shrewsbury Town FC Supporters Parliament and along with Mike is the joint Supporters Liaison Officer for the club.
They kindly allowed me to interview them just before the first Lockdown in 2020 about the crucial role they both played in getting safe standing installed in the back half of their home end in 2018.
The Shrews were one of the trail blazers in England, as this concept is now more and more common at a number of football stadiums, Fratton Park of course being one of them.
It was brilliant to catch up with Roger Groves [grovesroger] again who was able to meet us before the game and gave us a tour of the impressive Smithy’s bar (adjacent to the fan zone).
Normally a home only bar (unless there is a small away following on the day) it has a fine selection of old football shirts and badge history from the blue amber army.
Finally it was into the stadium 10 minutes before kick off as we took our seats 7 rows from the front and in good view of the pitch.
In the South and West stands, there is an impressive collection of Shrewsbury banners with slogans such as Breathe On ‘Em Salop, Floreat Salopia (Shropshire’s county motto) and the Spirit of 79.
The latter of course being a reference to their (what is now) League One title winning season under Shrews legendary player manager Graham Turner which then saw the club enjoy an impressive 10 years in the 2nd tier.
On to the match then – Pompey arrived in Shropshire top of League One with an unchanged line up from our massive ‘six pointer’ home win over 2nd place Bolton Wanderers five days earlier.
Whilst 11th place Shrewsbury Town themselves have not lost for a month (ironically also a 4-0 defeat to Blackpool) and have one of THE Pompey heroes since the millennium as their manager, Matt Taylor.
Our 1,540 travelling fans were in great voice and literally bouncing around to our league position (as the chant to Go West goes). As the game got underway in the bright winter sunshine, it started with some good attacking play from both sides yet no clear cut attempts on goal other than a few long range efforts from both sides.
Pompey began to have most of the possession in Shrewsbury’s half, but it took until 30 minutes for their first real opportunity. After a cross by Jack Sparkes, Abu Kamara headed off target before Paddy Lane hooked it back from the by-line as it fell to Kusini Yengi. Butthis time the in-form striker blazed over from close range.
Then the home side could also have taken the lead when Will Norris bowled the ball out to Alex Robertson to mount an attack from the back, Robertson’s sideways pass was intercepted by Nohan Kenneh, but his long-range shot was saved by Norris.
As the first half looked like it was meandering to a stalemate, with just one minute of stoppage time added, Pompey got the breakthrough.
From Marlon Pack’s throw, the ball bounced and eluded everyone in the box as Abu Kamara out muscled defender Jordan Shipley and showed great agility to hook it into the roof of the net at the far post. As the Pompey end erupted, the referee thenblew for half time.
HT: Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Pompey
In the second half, both teams were kicking towards their fans and Pompey started the second half with a new attacking confidence and doubled their lead on 62 minutes.
Jack Sparkes played a nice ball forward from his own half to Paddy Lane who cut in unopposed from the left before his low drive was tapped into the back of the net from Marlon Pack just a couple of yards out – cue jubilant celebrations by the Pompey captain and the fans in front of him.
On a separate note, as well as the exciting football we were seeing, it was just as great to witness the fabulous sunset above the West Stand, never an opportunity for photographers out there to miss.
Plus I like the leftfield model at the New Meadow of four floodlight pylons on their side stands, I think it is only Luton’s Kenilworth Road where they are also like this rather than one in each corner?
Back to the match, on 72 minutes the first of four substitutions was made with Colby Bishop’s much talked about return saw him replace Yengi. It’s as if John Mousinho read my mind as I commented on the PompeyNewsNow Facebook poll on whether Colby Bishop should start.
I said we should start with Yengi and only bring Bishop off the bench if we are winning 2-0 with say 15 minutes to go so he has a run out. But not if we are losing and desperately chasing the game as that could impede his recovery.
At 2-0 I felt fairly comfortable we could score more and Paddy Lane then had a fizzing shot from outside the box which forced keeper Marko Marosi into a decent save.
However 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline and the home side weren’t finished and still created several chances with arguably their best one coming from a good ball over the top by Shipley to Daniel Udoh. But after the Shrewsbury striker burst into the box past Sean Raggett, his shot from the angle flew wide of the target.
Then with six minutes to go, any fears of a Shrewsbury comeback were laid to rest when a long ball forward aimed at Bishop was headed clear only as far as substitute Christian Saydee who controlled it nicely before playing in Abu Kamara who cut into the box to fire his 2nd goal of the match into the roof of the net. A marvellous finish by the superb Norwich loanee for his 4th league goal of the campaign.
Late on Bishop may have had the fairytale return when Saydee’s deflective effort was parried by keeper Marosi, but Shrews defender Chey Dunkley got there just ahead of Bishop to clear to safety.
FT: Shrewsbury Town 0-3 Pompey
Att: 7,296
So Pompey left the New Meadow now 7th points clear at the top as an eventful afternoon in the League One promotion race saw 2nd place occupied by Bolton, Oxford, Stevenage and finally Peterborough.
There was still time for a lovely moment after the players all left the pitch. Despite his side losing comprehensively in the end, Shrews boss and Pompey legend Matt Taylor walked in the direction of ours fans to clap and salute us of which he was given a tremendous reception and chorus of “Super, Super Matt..”
To complete our day of catch ups, Ajit and I now walked back to the award-winning CAMRA pub the Prince Of Wales for the BluesNorthern AGM around 5:30ish. This friendly local had plenty of Shrews memorabilia throughout. Credit to the pub for kindly allocating their public bar to us.
It was great to have some Christmassy food along with some fun and constructive discussions. It was also great to see a number of faces for the first time since well before Lockdown.
My fellow Pompey fans, like myself were refusing to hear or say the word ‘promotion’ through fear of jinxing anything. No-one is ever promoted at Christmas after all and there is still a hive of activity in the January transfer window for all clubs.
But whilst it is still way too early to even think about open top bus parades to Southsea Common in May, with the outstanding job that John Mousinho and his side are doing and the increasing gap at the top of recent weeks – I doubt Pompey will ever get a better chance than now.
Finally, we couldn’t head back to Brum before seeing Shrewsbury town centre at night with all its Christmas lights – the perfect way to embroider an all-round splendid day out for us.
Our promotion quest resumes on Saturday when 22nd place and relegation threatened Fleetwood Town visit us in the league. The previous four seasons have all ended in draws between the two sides at Fratton Park as Pompey look for their first home win over the Cod Army since October 2018. PUP PPU.
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