Shrewsbury Town analysis: Town ride their luck but left thinking what might have been after 95th minute heartbreak
Professional football is often determined by fine margins.
The bounce of the ball, the timing of a tackle and the speed of thought or movement can be the difference between victory and defeat. That goes for the World Cup final, or a bottom-of-the-table clash in a local Sunday league.
In recent years it has become fashionable for football clubs to place more focus on these fine margins, and work on 'the one percenters' in training to try and find ways to triumph, be that set pieces, fitness levels or opposition analysis.
Perhaps more important than any of that though is having a bit of luck on your side, and Shrewsbury Town certainly relied on that in their 2-2 draw at Oldham Athletic on Saturday.
If you were to look at the match stats you would probably be forgiven for thinking Shrewsbury got slightly unlucky, considering they twice took the lead and were denied all three points after the hosts scored a 95th minute equaliser.
Stats do not tell the full story though, and the reality is Town lived a charm life for a lot of the afternoon, and came out on the right side of the 'fine margins' more often than not.
Their first bit of fortune came just four minutes in, when Michael Mellon's effort from point-blank range was turned against the post by Will Brook, who then saw the ball land perfectly back into his hands rather than at the feet of the Oldham forward, and son of Latics boss and former-Town man Micky Mellon.
Oldham continued to carve their opponents apart with ease, and after good build-up play left back Jamie Robson fired a thunderous effort that looked destined for the back of the net, only to come cannoning back off the crossbar. A foot lower, and it would have been a dead cert for the goal of the month award.
And the woodwork saved Shrewsbury for a third time after 36 minutes, when Mellon steered a header against the same post he had hit earlier on in the afternoon to compound the home side's frustration.
Referee Abigail Byrne did little to improve their mood when she decided to brandish a yellow card in Shrewsbury keeper Brook's direction after he took out Jake Caprice with a rash challenge outside his penalty area. The decision was probably the right one given the number of covering defenders, but on another day the 21-year-old could well have been given his marching orders.
The only positive from the opening 45 minutes was that Shrewsbury went in at half time level, and after some stern words from Michael Appleton at half time they came out flying for the second half.
Appleton revealed that he 'ranted and raved' at his players during the interval, and he got the reaction he wanted less than a minute into the second half.
A swift counterattack left the Oldham defence at 6s and 7s, and Anthony Scully was on hand to fire a fantastic effort from the edge of the box that crashed into the net via the crossbar. For the fourth time in less than an hour, the frame of the goal was Shrewsbury's friend.
However, it is widely agreed that you are at your most vulnerable as a football team when you have just scored a goal, and Salop did little to dispel that theory.
Oldham again found joy down their left side, and Robson's pull back found Latics captain Tom Pett, who seemed to have the freedom of the town in the centre of the penalty area, and he applied a simple finish to level the scores with 50 minutes played.
The second half felt more like a basketball game, and was rather chaotic at times as both sides lacked the necessary quality in the final third to grab a foothold in the game.
And given the charmed life that Shrewsbury had been living all afternoon, when they took the lead in the 91st minute it felt as though it would be one of the great 'smash and grabs' away from home.
Ismeal Kabia, who had been a thorn in the Latics' side all afternoon, did well down the right and cut the ball back to Tommy McDermott, the former-Oldham youth player, whose deflected effort found the net in front of the away end.
The celebrations were tremendous, but proved to be premature.
Former-Shrewsbury midfielder Ryan Woods' cross was headed home by Joe Garner in the final minute of stoppage time as Town again conceded four minutes after scoring, as they saw three points become one in heart-breaking fashion.
However, after scoring two deflected goals, being saved by the woodwork three times and having their goalkeeper kept on the pitch despite a rash challenge outside his area, a point felt like a bit of a bonus for Town.
Of course, it is hard to be too content after conceding a 95th minute equaliser, but there has to be some satisfaction that the fine margins fell in Shrewsbury's favour all afternoon. That has certainly not been the case for most of the last 18 months.
