I think it was an excellent performance tonight.
Although I was gutted that we let the early lead slip, I did not think it was a case of Rovers capitulating, unlike other recent matches. In the first half we had further chances to put the game completely to bed, with their keeper pulling off two great saves to deny Cook. Shrewsbury had a lot of the ball and huffed and puffed but Davies did not really have anything to do, and was well protected by the back four. At the start of the second half they upped their game, bringing on Cummings to partner Lang, but I thought their second goal was the only occasion that we defended really poorly as a team, losing our shape and applying no pressure to the ball.
As Ian says above, the biggest positive was probably our response to their equaliser. In recent weeks heads would have dropped at that stage, but we largely dominated the last twenty five minutes, albeit Shrewsbury still had a threat on the counter attack. Morris had a great chance to win it for us before CBT's goal.
In general, I thought we looked far more compact defensively than we have in recent games and probably created more chances tonight than we have in the previous two months. Confidence is returning to the players and the service to the strikers was much improved.
I thought everybody put a shift in and played well, but Clarke and Ellis were outstanding as a centre back pairing and are exactly what we need: no-nonsense defenders who will take responsibility and head and kick the ball. I lost the count of the number of blocks they made, in the first half in particular. Woodyard and Ridehalgh were very good again and I thought Morris played really well, again benefiting from a better pitch which he could actually dribble on. Cook led the line brilliantly in the first half before tiring, but my man of the match was CBT. He effectively won us the game tonight, with a brilliant cross for the opening goal and an exquisite finish for the winner, from a very tight angle. He was always available for the ball and kept trying to beat players, even when Shrewsbury doubled up on him in the second half. Yes, he is young and inconsistent, but he is a match winner.
If we perform like we did tonight for the rest of the season, we have a real chance of staying up.