• last week
Ollie Westbury gives his take on Shrewsbury Town's 2-1 victory over Mansfield.
Salop had a disaster of a first half, as they fell behind before Toto Nsiala was sent off.
But two goals in the space of 20 minutes from from John Marquis and George Lloyd gave Salop all three points.
Transcript
00:00I am completely and utterly lost for words here at the Crowd Meadow as Shrewsbury have produced what can only be described as an absolutely astonishing comeback.
00:12One for the ages to recover a man down, a goal down at the break, to win 2-1 against Mansfield.
00:18It means they've taken 10 points from the last 12 available. It's their third win from the last four matches at home, four games unbeaten at home.
00:27It was something that Gareth Ainsworth mentioned when he came in about making the Crowd Meadow a fortress and it is certainly just that at the moment.
00:36It has been a mixed afternoon for Shrewsbury. That is perhaps an understatement but I think I tweeted in the first 15 minutes of the game that they were awful at the start of this match against Mansfield.
00:54They trailed inside five minutes when Will Evans, a former Shrewsbury academy product, gave Mansfield the lead but every time the visitors came forward it looked as if they were going to score.
01:06Shrewsbury probably could consider themselves lucky to still be a goal down.
01:11Gareth Ainsworth spoke post-match and has actually admitted that the shape that Nigel Cloughside used kind of surprised them, I suppose, and they weren't expecting them to do that.
01:23Jamal Blackman, I'm not sure whether he actually injured himself or whether it was a tactical thing, but he went down inside his six-yard box to get some treatment.
01:32The whole of the Shrewsbury squad headed over to the touchline to get their instructions from the Salah head coach.
01:38It turned out that Josh Feeney moved into midfield so he played as a defensive midfielder and Town were better from that moment onwards.
01:45Most of their threat came from set-pieces but they were better, much improved after an abysmal first 20 minutes.
01:52That was until the red card, Toto Anciala and Aaron Pierre made a bit of a mess of things on the halfway line at first.
02:01Lee Gregory then gets away from Anciala, he kind of completely and utterly puts the afterburners on him and kind of does him for pace.
02:08You're just thinking to yourself as he's running through, don't take him down, don't take him down because if you're outside the box the referee's going to send you off and he takes him down.
02:18Of course, he's a free kick right on the edge of the penalty area and Toto Anciala, who's had a difficult campaign for Shrewsbury, is given his marching orders by the referee.
02:28The correct decision, the ref got booed off at half-time and probably some of the decisions in the game were wrong, but the main one, which was the red card, was the right decision.
02:36He was rightfully sent off, no complaints from Shrewsbury on that one.
02:39They headed into the break looking like it was game over. It was such a long way back. Shrewsbury have found it hard enough to win with 11 men on the field at times this season,
02:51so the chances of them winning a game with a man down felt completely and utterly like it just wasn't going to happen.
03:01But anyway, up steps John Marquis, they got a goal back just quickly into the second half, it kind of came completely out of the blue.
03:08It felt as if the whole stadium was completely and utterly stunned by that as Marquis headed home at the back post.
03:16Shortly after, Alex Gilead, absolutely sensational, won the ball back in midfield, carried it forward, played in George Lloyd and he finished through Christy Pym.
03:25Perhaps the Mansfield goalkeeper will be quite disappointed with both goals, perhaps should have done better on both of them, but he didn't and Shrewsbury were then leading.
03:34Some brilliant defending, Pierre absolutely threw his body at the ball inside the penalty area to keep the lead intact.
03:39Some brilliant moments right at the end as well, as Town managed to kind of see the game out right at the death.
03:46I mean, I'm sure I, like every other Shrewsbury fan in the building, was absolutely panicking that they could manage to hold on.
03:53It takes them within five points of 20th place. Results elsewhere, not a good result with Northampton getting a win, but it means the Bristol Rovers are dragged back into it.
04:04Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what happens elsewhere. Shrewsbury need to get themselves up to around about a point per game and then they can go from there, regardless of what everybody else does.
04:13That needs to be the target. The next target, though, is some players and we need to see some movement.
04:19A couple of players is the intention to come in, probably going to be deadline day now as Gareth Ainsworth seeks to improve his Shrewsbury Town side, who are slightly light on numbers, that must be said.
04:30So it's been a fantastic afternoon in the end here. Chalk and cheese, a game of two halves.
04:35If you have any more cliches, send them to me. But no, brilliant and a job well done for Shrewsbury Town. All the reaction, head to shopstart.com.

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