Shrewsbury Town’s decade in League One: Salop secure second-highest finish in 33 years

The only season to be better in recent times was the brilliant success Paul Hurst had in 2017-18 which saw them narrowly miss out on promotion to the Championship. 

It was Cotterill’s second season in charge and he had been able to stamp his own identity on the team in the summer by assembling a relatively small squad that was higher on quality. 

Taylor Moore had arrived on loan from Bristol City. Chey Dunkley, Jordan Shipley, Aiden O’Brien and Tom Bayliss had signed permanent deals in Shropshire. 

After a stuttering start, Salop got their first win of the campaign at Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers. Town came from behind in extreme heat to win 2-1 as Matthew Pennington and Luke Leahy both got their names on the scoresheet. 

Town’s form from September to mid-October was excellent with them winning five of their seven League One matches. 

They were handed two massive injury blows when George Nurse and Dan Udoh both ruptured their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) in the space of just a few weeks. That would rule them out for the rest of the season leaving a squad already short on numbers even lighter. 

Their form dipped over the Christmas period though as they lost three consecutive matches. 

First at Cambridge, then at home against Cheltenham and Fleetwood. Town had Leahy sent off in the clash against Cheltenham, a decision which would later be rescinded, the same went for Pennington against Fleetwood. 

His red card in the 22nd minute, which was later overturned, was a decisive moment in the match. 

Town bounced back from that adversity in fine fashion as they went on a run that propelled them into playoff contention. Salop won six games in succession, for the first time since 2015, beating Burton, Cambridge, MK Dons, Forest Green Rovers, Oxford and Port Vale. The run eventually came to an end when they drew 0-0 away at Exeter. 

Town’s season ended with them picking up four points from their final 10 games with injuries biting at the end of the campaign. 

A 1-0 loss to Lincoln on the final day of the season saw Town end up 12th. Dunkley and Leahy both started every single league game of that campaign, a quite incredible statistic for two outfield players. Dunkley was shown a straight red card in the clash against the Imps though which would ensure he would not repeat the feat. 

Shrews lost all three of their EFL Trophy games that season as Cotterill played a completely different XI almost every time. They were knocked out of the League Cup by Vincent Kompany’s Burnley and went out in the third round of the FA Cup to Sunderland after good wins against York and Peterborough. 

Leahy completed an excellent campaign with nine goals to his name with talented Portsmouth loanee Christian being close behind him with seven.