Dave Edwards: More good than bad on the opening day for Shrewsbury

The Town supporters would have liked a few goals and a bit more excitement, but I have said time and time again that starting the season well and picking up points is very important. 

There were enough good things in the game, which made it a positive day. I have had mixed reviews from various fans. Some thought it was good, and some thought it was awful. I am somewhere in the middle. 

This team will naturally get better, and the areas in which they struggled do take time to develop - that is the attacking play. 

You have to get that defence right first. You have to get that strong foundation. For the most part, I thought they looked very solid against a Bromley team I covered a few times last year. 

They are very direct but not in a lump-it way, they are very methodical, but they will put you under pressure with set pieces, long throws and crosses into the box. 

I do not think last year’s Salop team would have kept a clean sheet. Having that many balls into the box, I feel there would have been a breakthrough at some point for Bromley. 

That Town backline looked organised with those midfielders in front of them. They headed ball after ball away, and they took no risks with their clearances, which made it a good defensive display. That is a good starting point, but of course, we want to see more exciting attacking football. That is what fans want to see. 

There were good moments, some really good passing spells in the game where we did the first two-thirds of the move well. 

When we got to that final little bit, whether it was the through ball or the cross into the box, that little bit of quality and synergy was just not quite there. 

These are things I expect to be developed over the coming weeks. There are new faces in the group, so it will happen. 

I thought George Nurse was really good at left wing-back. I thought his calmness on the ball really helped the team. When they are in trouble, they can get it out to that left side, and he is good enough to keep the ball. He had a lot of energy as well, good considering the injuries he has had in recent years. 

I was happy with Harrison Biggins in that midfield. He was the standout of that midfield trio. He was full of energy, full of legs. He handled the ball well and retained it better than Alex Gilliead and Sam Clucas, who both had steady games themselves. 

The most creative player from a Town point of view was Anthony Scully. There were lots of good signs in the first half. He is very Shaun Whalley-esque with the way he plays. He is hard to pick up, and he gets the ball on the half turn, and he runs with it. 

On another day, two or three of those passes he made would find that team-mate, and they would score those half-chances they created. 

The one thing I would like to see Shrews do a little bit better is to try to increase the tempo in the game. Bromley are a very stop-start team that takes so much time over set pieces. At times, they need to get the game moving as quickly as possible. Teams in League Two will not be able to deal with that as much. The more they can move it side to side, that is they will start to find those pockets of space and that freedom.