Shrewsbury 1 Grimsby 1: Salop continue unbeaten home form as John Marquis rescues point
Depleted Shrewsbury Town added another point to their League Two tally having come from a goal behind to secure a 1-1 draw with play-off hopefuls Grimsby Town, writes Joe Chapman.
John Marquis' bullet header in first half stoppage time cancelled out Charles Vernam's penalty which had been converted about ten minutes earlier, in what was otherwise a low-key encounter which didn't exactly keep in with the recent outings against Gillingham and the FA Cup tie at Sutton United.
Salop were without a number of senior personnel here; centre half Will Boyle was suspended after accumulating his fifth yellow card of the League Two campaign in the recent 3-3 draw with Gillingham, while Josh Ruffels also sat this evening out having been given his marching orders in the FA Cup victory over Sutton United on Saturday. Tom Sang also missed out through injury, meaning Michael Appleton could only name six substitutes on his bench.
Buoyed by a recent return of ten points from the last 12 available at the Croud Meadow, Salop welcomed a Grimsby side who had hit the headlines earlier in the campaign having toppled Manchester United in the League Cup, but after a scintillating beginning to their league commitments, the Mariners had failed to win any of their previous five matches prior to Tuesday evening and had emerged victorious only once since the beginning of October.
They momentarily thought they'd taken the lead in the tenth minute when a cross from the right was bundled past Will Brook at the near post by forward Jaze Kabia, but the windswept Meadow breathed a collective sigh of relief following a near instant flagging for offside by the assistant referee.
The first half hour or so proved to be a competitive period of the night, with few notable opportunities with both outfits appearing to be evenly matched across the pitch. Anthony Scully pulled a speculative shot wide of the near post from range, but neither keeper had too much to worry them until ten minutes before half time when Tommy McDermott was adjudged to have fouled Jamie Walker inside the penalty area and the referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot.
McDermott protested against the decision with the ball having run out of the reach of both players, but to the bemusement of the home following behind the goal, the spot kick stood and was dispatched by Vernam, who sent Brook the wrong way without too much fuss.
Salop were on level terms heading down the tunnel at the break, though. Sam Clucas' throw-in into the penalty area was returned to him by Tom Anderson, and his wicked delivery to the back stick was expertly attacked by Marquis, who left Christy Pym with utterly no chance of preventing Town bringing about parity.
The second half was a cagey affair; Ismeal Kabia, who had been forced off with a tight hamstring following his match saving equaliser at the weekend, came off again here and that meant a reshuffle for Appleton, who called on centre forward George Lloyd to fill in at wing back, with Chuks Aneke joining Marquis up top.
Grimsby did look to build up a period of pressure, with substitute Evan Khouri catching the eye and proving pretty influential in the build up, but Will Brook was only called into action to deny Jeze Kabia at the back post with a smart stop.
In truth, though, Salop - who admittedly didn't threaten enough themselves in the opposing direction for much of the second half - were barely worried from open play over the course of the evening, were good value for their share of the spoils and extended their unbeaten home run to five games in the process.
