Shrews make stadium a fortress

In the absence of the ill Paul Simpson the Town produced a fantastic performance to beat one of their promotion rivals at the fortress Prostar Stadium, writes Shrews blogger James Pugh.

Not only was the performance against Bradford fantastic in the fact that we won 2-0, it showed we can beat the division’s big clubs.

Bradford are a physical side and came for a scrap, and unlike previous seasons where we would have been outfought, we battled for everything and outdid them all over the pitch.

Town are a lot fitter this season and the self-belief the players are showing each week means that they are fighting to the final whistle and don’t let the opposition settle into a rhythm.

If we are to get promoted this season then we have to beat the best, especially at home, and following the 7-0 victory over Gillingham, beating Bradford has sent a strong warning to the rest of the division.

All of the players played their part and a special mention must go to the defence who limited Bradford to half chances, and to the skipper Ben Davies who is in top form at the moment and will be our key player for the rest of the season.

Our home form has been faultless so far and teams are fearing coming here. Last season it was the opposite to this and the atmosphere was not matching that of the Gay Meadow. But I thought Saturday’s game was right up their in terms of atmosphere, and this is certainly having a positive effect on the players.

I also think when the corners of the stadium are filled in, it will make an even greater difference.

We’re lying in a very respectable third place, but what I would like us to do is be more positive away from home, and turn those draws into victories.

I though after we went in front against Chester last week, we took our foot off the pedal, and should have been trying to go further in front. At the moment I can’t see us leaking more than one goal a game, so if we score two we have got every chance of winning games.

I don’t see teams like Wycombe and Bury sustaining their impressive start and sooner or later their small squads will pay us dividends. I think Bradford will up their performance at the end of the season, but on the day we were simply better.