Salop took a huge step in their quest for survival with a Boxing Day win over Lincoln.
Morgan Feeney netted the only goal of the game, as the victory helped Gareth Ainsworth off the foot of the table.
Morgan Feeney netted the only goal of the game, as the victory helped Gareth Ainsworth off the foot of the table.
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00:00The lights at the Crowd Meadow have gone out, however Shrewsbury fans will be celebrating
00:06into the night after they collected their second win of the Gareth Ainsworth era here
00:12at the Crowd Meadow on Boxing Day, which has not been happy hunting ground for Shrewsbury
00:17in recent years. They've won just two of the last 15 on this day of the year, albeit most
00:21of those have been away, but today they got the result that they needed. They got a 1-0
00:26win against Lincoln City, who had play-off ambitions and have been in decent form so
00:32far this season, but Gareth Ainsworth's side scored early. Morgan Feeney with a goal in
00:37the 10th minute and they clung on. They kept their second clean sheet of the season. The
00:41defending at times this campaign has not been good enough, but you cannot fault them on
00:47this occasion as they were absolutely superb in a rear-guard display in severe fog here
00:54in Shropshire on a very chilly day after Christmas. It was a late Christmas present
01:00for the fans. The town boss made five changes. It was potentially surprising with the momentum
01:05that they gained against Wigan at the weekend, so that perhaps might have caught Lincoln
01:11off guard with the boss ringing the changes. That makes it 11 changes in the last two games,
01:17but they picked up four points, which is the all-important stat, and they kept their second
01:22clean sheet of the season. Their first since the end of August and it was an absolutely
01:26terrific defensive display, which I have already said. The first goal and the most important
01:32goal scored by Morgan Feeney came from a clever corner routine and the credit has all gone
01:37to Gareth Ainsworth's assistant, Mr Dobson, who is in charge apparently according to Ainsworth.
01:43He delegates his set-piece duties and Mr Dobson is the man who has created the goal. It was
01:50a very, very clever one. Interchanged between Leo Kasselheim, Jordan Shipley, got to Mal
01:54Benning at the byline, he pulled it back and Morgan Feeney poked it home. The two Feeneys
02:00and Aaron Pierre were absolutely phenomenal today, as was Mal Benning who got to the byline
02:03on multiple occasions and put dangerous crosses in. He almost got a goal as well in the second
02:08half, so absolutely terrific from Mal Benning just as much as it was from the rest of the
02:13Shrewsbury Town players. Taylor Perry came off at half-time. He picked up a yellow card
02:18but was pretty decent up until that point. Gareth Ainsworth choosing to be proactive
02:22rather than reactive for town. It gives them hope. It cuts their now six points adrift
02:28of Northampton Town who come here at the weekend on Sunday in another huge, huge match for
02:34Shrewsbury and they will be absolutely desperate and if they can get the all-elusive back-to-back
02:38wins for the first time since early in 2023, then it will leave Shrewsbury with a great
02:44chance of overcoming a huge deficit which was at one point ten points. It's now six
02:49and if they can get a victory against Northampton on Sunday, then that will come down even more.
02:55It feels like there is some, at last, there is some real room for optimism and Shrewsbury
03:00can head into the game with momentum and the exact same momentum that they had in coming
03:05into this one. It finished here. Shrewsbury Town 1-0 Lincoln.