Analysis: Shrewsbury fully deserve their day of Derby delight

Fast forward 16 days and Shrews have taken seven points from the last nine available to them – keeping two clean sheets and scoring three goals. A stark contrast.

And their most recent win, the 1-0 victory against Derby County at the weekend, was unquestionably the high point of the Town head coach’s time in charge of the Shropshire club so far.

Over the short three-match run, the performances have improved. The win against the Cobblers was not convincing, but Dan Udoh’s goal set them on their way.

They were then good against Cambridge, despite a horror moment for the home side’s goal, but they fought back to get a late and deserved equaliser.

But the most impressive was against the Rams. The crucial moment came courtesy of Conor Hourihane’s own-goal, but that does not tell the full picture.

It was a statement performance, a display from Salop where you could really see their head coach’s ideas being put into action on the pitch.

A 1-0 win against a side with the embarrassment of riches such as Derby could look from the outside as if Town clung on for the three points.

And they did a little bit in the final few moments, but for the rest of the match it could not be further from the truth.

They lifted their game, they really did have a go at Paul Warne’s Derby and to be quite honest, if Town could score when in brilliant positions in front of goal, then it could quite easily have been more.

They passed the ball well, they played with energy and they had gilt-edge chances to put the game to bed.

Town are quickly becoming the 1-0 specialists. Out of their five wins in League One this season, that is the fourth time they have won by that margin.

The Rams did have their chances too. Marko Marosi was in terrific form in the Town goal. He denied Curtis Nelson in the first half with a superb one-handed stop. He made other more good saves from Tom Barkhuizen in the first half.

Town should have led at the break. Tom Bayliss, who was back to his best in this game, smashed a penalty over the bar right on half-time, and at that stage, you could not help but think ‘here we go again’.

In fairness, justice was probably done, it was never a penalty in the first place. The tackle from Nelson on Max Mata looked outside the box and there was very little contact.

It was an entertaining game, which is just what the 8,088 fans crammed inside the Croud Meadow were hoping for.

It has not always been the case this season, with games seeing little goalmouth action which at times has led to a flat atmosphere.

The hope was that after a really promising first-half performance Town could maintain that, especially given the calibre of player Derby had to call upon from their bench.

And they did. They had plenty of chances, not just chances, really good opportunities to open the scoring and in the end, it came in a fairly fortuitous way.

A cross came in from the right from the ever-present Carl Winchester, it hit Hourihane and looped into the net.

Town had to weather a late onslaught from the visitors as they desperately tried to get back into the game, but they did not have enough.

One of the hallmarks of this side this year has been built on solid foundations and even when they have not scored they have always been well-organised and hard to break down.

That was the case again, the back three were simply tremendous, heading away balls and making vital blocks.

Town fans had been craving a performance like this. A game where for 90 minutes they were on the edge of their seats urging the ball into the net.

It has been a positive few weeks, but it is still early days, and it is only one performance.

It is the only time they have played like that in their opening 13 games, and as with any successful sports team, consistency is what makes you the best.

The challenge for Taylor and his men now is to recover from such a high on Saturday and get their minds focused on the job in Yorkshire with the trip to Barnsley on the horizon.

Sport can be a greatest of levellers, so they need to be prepared for that.