Good result for battling Shrews

Thursday 17th August 2006, 10:34AM BST.

Brave Town return home from Lincoln with a battling point after being put right up against it following a red card for Walker in the third minute, writes our Shrews blogger James Pugh.

I didn’t see the incident involving Walker and whether he elbowed the player or not, so I can’t make a judgement on the referee’s decision.

But what I will say is that Walker is not a dirty player and it would surprise me greatly if he had deliberately caught the player, knowing how it would affect the game.

I know the 0-0 draw was yet another away game without three points, but considering the circumstances I thought it was a very good result.

Despite playing with ten men for practically the whole game, we looked like we could score and defended fantastically for our lives.

It showed a lot about the side and credit to the players. I thought Moss and Langmead coming in for Herd and Jackson were brilliant and it proved the strength we now have in the squad.

A player who deserves a lot of credit is the goalkeeper Matt Gilks, who had a very impressive debut, especially as he hasn’t played much football in the last 18 months.

His kicking and handling was good, he made some good saves and commanded his area brilliantly. It was only one game, but I remember the days when he played against Town for Rochdale and he impressed me then as well.

If he continues to show this kind of form, then Simpson should think about signing him permanently.

The loan signing of Gilks showed what little faith the manager has in his other keepers.

With Daniels out for a further three weeks, he resisted the temptation to bring back Bevan and it doesn’t say a lot for Garner when Gilks is put straight into the team after training only once with the team.

I fear Garner and Bevan could both be shown the door permanently in January or at the end of the season.

Tuesday sees Dagenham come to the Prostar and let’s hope we can repeat the comprehensive victory over them in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Although, they warmed up for the game in style scoring six goals against Notts County so it won’t be an easy game.

Simpson has got a bit of a selection headache for the game with Davies, Herd and Jackson all available to return. But it’s nice to have these types of headaches!

As expected, the side have certainly missed Davies – not only his creativity in midfield, but also his goals.



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