Play-off hopes hang by a thread

Wednesday 15th April 2009, 7:58AM BST.

shrewsnewlogotm1One point against two of our promotion arrivals has left Town’s play-off hopes hanging by a thread, reports Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.

Monday’s 1-1 draw at home to Rochdale has left Town outside the play-offs and if they are to gain promotion this season then they are going to have to rely on other results to go their way.

Town played well enough and created enough chances to beat Rochdale after Holt scored a superb goal, but couldn’t hang on to a much needed win.

After the disappointing defeat to Bury on Friday, Town needed to respond with a win, but couldn’t take advantage of playing in front of a superb home crowd.

On Friday yet another former player came back to haunt us as we lost 2-1 in the crucial game away to Bury.

Glynn Hurst’s winner condemned us to another bad away result, despite our performance meriting three points.

As we did against Wycombe, we were positive from the outset and on the balance of play we created more chances than Bury and if only we had taken them while we were on top things could have been very different.

Ultimately our defeat came down to a poor refereeing decision to award Bury a penalty, no luck, and a strange decision by Simpson to take off an impressive Murray and bring on Ashikodi on the right wing which destroyed our shape.

So three games remain, including two tough trips to Rotherham and Dagenham. If we are to scrape into the playoffs then it looks like maximum points will be needed.

Off the field the official Shrewsbury Town website is appealing to fans to vote for their player of the season.

The main frontrunners are likely to be top score Grant Holt, former skipper Ben Davies and newly appointed captain Graham Coughlan.

My vote would be between Holt, who has not just scored goals, but is a team man who always puts in 100 per cent, and Coughlan, who has been like a rock at the back and is a real leader.

Who would fans vote for?



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