A group of Shrewsbury Town supporters who had their drum confiscated at Saturday’s match were today due to meet with club officials in a bid to allow them to use the instrument in the ground again.

Fans took it into the Salop Leisure Stand at the Greenhous Meadow for the match against Macclesfield to help improve the atmosphere at the ground on match days, unaware that they’d been banned.

The use of the instruments has been banned since March, after a pair of Wycombe fans were thrown out of the Meadow for persistently banging a drum and being verbally abusive when the clubs met last season.

At Saturday’s game, which Town won 1-0, supporters had the drum taken off them after they began playing it.

Supporters said officials told them they had taken it off them for safety reasons and following a request from the club’s chairman Roland Wycherley. Now club officials have agreed to sit down with the supporters today.

Alex Lewis, a member of the Blue and Amber Army supporters group, who took the drum into the ground, said he was hopeful the situation could be resolved.

“Within 20 minutes, a steward came in and said it was an offensive weapon,” he said. “Then the safety officer came at half-time and said it was a request from the chairman.”

He said it was well received by other fans, who supported the group after it was confiscated. “We were singing ‘stand up if you want the drum’ and the whole of the South Stand and Family Stand stood up.”

Mr Lewis said they had not been aware it was banned and officials helped them get it into the stadium, opening a gate when they could not fit it through the turnstiles.

Club safety officer Alan Roberts said: “The decision to remove the drum was mine. I am the match day safety officer and decisions such as these will be made by me. Although they were not happy, they were appreciative that I had taken the time.”

See also:

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• Shrewsbury Town can win the league, says Shane
• Shrewsbury Town 1 Macclesfield 0 – In pictures