Match report by James Garrison
Another Saturday, another victory, and another healthy dose of Prostar Stadium entertainment.
And, encouragingly, further evidence that where there is a blip on the Shrewsbury Town radar, a convincing victory is never too far away.
After a 1-0 defeat at Morecambe in the most lacklustre performance of the campaign to date followed a 7-0 thumping of Gillingham.
Now a convincing victory over potentially dangerous opponents has come in the immediate aftermath of the first home defeat of the season.
It could be argued this 4-1 triumph over Jimmy Quinn’s Bournemouth was achieved without the hosts hitting the heights they have shown themselves capable of.
But one factor that can’t be disputed are the statistics which display Shrewsbury in such a favourable light and have helped ensure Town returned to the automatic promotion places on Saturday night.
Paul Simpson’s side have now tallied 19 goals in six League Two home matches this term.
That is three more than any of the other 91 teams in the Premiership and Football League have mustered in front of their own supporters.
And, even more tellingly, Town need just 12 more to equal the amount of Prostar Stadium strikes they managed in the whole of last season.
At this rate, that will be achieved well before Christmas and, at a time of such grave global economic concern, Shrewsbury are doing their utmost to provide value for money for their customers.
Yes, Town’s fans are truly savouring the football feast they have been able to enjoy in the opening quarter of the season.
And they will today have even more reason for optimism in the shape of debutant Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Such was the maturity displayed by the Icelandic loan midfielder, it would have been impossible to guess he was as a 19-year-old breaking onto the Football League stage for the first time.
Sigurdsson’s performance hit the heights throughout, an excellent range of passing combining with surging runs timed to perfection.
He also had the reward of Town’s opening goal, coming on 22 minutes as he slotted home the rebound after both Grant Holt and Dave Hibbert were denied by Shwan Jalal in the Bournemouth goal.
That proved the catalyst for a 19-minute purple patch during which three goals came to give Shrewsbury total control of an initially tight encounter.
The other two strikes were supplied by Ben Davies. He was first to the rebound for the third goal just before half-time, narrowly beating Sigurdsson to the final touch with a sliding close range finish after Holt’s curling shot had been saved by Jalal.
But if Davies’ second goal was all about drive and determination, there was a real element of quality about his first 10 minutes earlier, the former Chester midfielder placing a 16-yard shot in the corner after excellent work from Kevin McIntyre down the right.
Those three goals provided a shocking end to the first half for Quinn, whose consolation came in a lengthy ovation from Shrewsbury supporters still grateful to the Irishman for overseeing their immediate return to the Football League.
While Town were clinical and ruthless in the run-up to half-time, they received an uneasy jolt from their comfort zone with a 10-minute wobble in the second half.
It was during that spell when Bournemouth managed to pull one goal back, Shrewsbury’s defence caught square by Lee Bradbury’s diagonal ball to allow substitute Brett Pitman to pull a goal back with a tidy finish.
Briefly former England and Tottenham midfielder Darren Anderton pulled the strings and the visitors threatened a revival, Pitman and Joel Ward spurning chances to grab what would have been a mightily interesting second goal.
But Shrewsbury regained their composure, and when Ward was somewhat harshly dismissed with 11 minutes remaining when a handball earned him a second bookable offence, Town began picking off a team who are battling manfully to retrieve the 17-point deficit they faced at the start of the season.
Holt hit the inside of the post with the rebound returning to the grateful arms of Jalal in a slick five-man move, Richard Walker had a header cleared off the line while Chris Humphrey and McIntyre both went close.
But there was still time for a final flourish as a rapid break allowed Holt to player in Walker who, despite a slip, made no mistake with his edge-of-the-box drive to cap another memorable afternoon.
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