Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers. Tuesday 17th October 2017

Shrewsbury 4 Bristol Rovers 0

As I arrived home tired after tonight's game at 1am, I remembered Johnny Vaughn's sage advice that he often trotted out during his time at TalkSport: "Never let the football get in the way of a good day out at the football".

The drive home had been pretty tortuous, with motorway closures and road works compounding what had been a humiliating result. The day had started so promisingly. I'd had the day off work and after an enjoyable morning and early afternoon with the family, I'd then picked up Tom of @Partizanbristle and his friend Briony. After a quick coffee stop at Gloucester services we were back on the M5.  The big decision to make was whether to stay on the motorway until Brimingham or get off at Kiddimister and head up to Shrewsbury cross country: Luckily we opted for the latter which proved to be a shrewd move. Not only did we avoid the car park section of the M5, we were also treated to the beautiful scenery of rural Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Tom admires the Shropshire sunset

As we smugly motored on to Shrewsbury, Briony casually dropped in to conversation that she was on friendly terms with the the Bristol Rovers owner - Wael Alqadi. A few minutes later she revealed that he was on his way to the game and was going to meet us in the car park and sit in the away end! Surely she was having us on / delusional? If he was going, no doubt he would be in an executive box somewhere, sipping champagne with his Shrewsbury counterpart? 

Sure enough when we turned up, there he was waiting for us. No entourage, just on his own with a couple of other fans - what a guy! A bit star struck and dumbfounded, I didn't speak to him much beyond banal pleasantries but he seemed a lovely man. I thought it spoke volumes that he was behind the goal with the fans without a body guard in sight. Still not really believing what was happening the game kicked off amongst a light shower of weetabix. What followed was a very miserable 45 minutes from a Bristol Rovers point of view.

Rovers won the first corner of the game, but this proved to be as good as it got and the beginning of the end. As the corner was cleared, Shrewsbury broke with pace down Rovers left flank and after a simple and effective one-two with Shaun Whalley, Alex Rodman side footed home. Far too easy. Not long later it was 2-0. After some neat build up play, Junior Brown swung in a cross to the far post where big centre forward Carlton Morris easily out jumped Rovers left back Bola and headed home, Slocombe in the Rovers goal should have done better, getting beaten at his near post with the ball squirming under him. We were right behind the Rovers goal and it was painful to watch. I still optimistically harboured hopes of a dramatic come back but these were dashed a couple of minutes later. Further misery was heaped on the travelling fans, who lets not forget, had witnessed a 6-0 victory in their last away game. Jon Nolan converted an easy tap in as the Rovers centre backs went missing allowing Morris to run to the edge of the area and find his team mate who had easily lost his marker. 3-0 down and not half an hour played.

A few fans had already ran down to the advertising boards to hurl 'advice' at the players, meanwhile we were left trying to remember the biggest away defeat we'd witnessed and wondering whether this was going to surpass it. 5 minutes before half time Shrewsbury won a free kick on the right hand side. It was hit deep toward the far post where left the back Brown, seemingly unmarked, scored with what was a great header back across the goal and in off the post. 4-0. Disbelief in the Rovers end and so it seemed in the home end as well. Although they went in tonight's game unbeaten, the Shrews scraped draws in the last couple and until tonight most of their victories had been hard fought close affairs. Their fans were clearly not used to seeing them tearing teams apart as they were tonight with every attack looking like it was going to end in a goal. The fourth proved to be the home time signal for a fair few Rovers fans. Tom took it as a que to head back to the concourse and get us a pie each. Perhaps deliberately, he forget to get forks so made a return journey saving himself from the final minutes of the half.

Half time and it was time to take stock. Briony pointed out that most of the damage had been done down Rovers left flank. Surprising as Arsenal loanee Bola has been impressive at left back to date though it was true he had little in the way of protection. 

With the slaughter on pause it was also an opportunity to look around at the stadium. The Montgomery Waters Meadow Stadium is as bland and nondescript as it sounds. Non offensive and comfortable it  lacks much in the way of character. I never went to Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury's old ground, but did see it from a train once and it was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately it was near a river and flooded a lot. They moved to Montgomery Waters 10 years ago. It's on the outskirts of town and you can get an idea of the vibe of the area by the fact that we parked in a garden centre (paying £5 for the privilege). There are plans afoot to convert part of one of the stands to safe standing which will at least give the place something a bit different. 

The second half was altogether less eventful. Shrewsbury continued to look the better side but perhaps took their foot off the gas a little bit. Rovers replaced a striker with a defender and were able to offer slightly more resistance. Ellis Harrison looked a handful upfront for the away team put was largely feeding off scraps and it was clearly not going to be Rovers night. 

Tom remained fairly upbeat for most of the game but looked a broken man when misfiring striker Nicholls was subbed off with 20 minutes to go. In a moment of madness some weeks ago, he vowed not to shave until Nicholls finally breaks his Rovers duck. He's already sporting a bushy specimen and I dread to think how many small children he'll scare if the striker emulates his predecessor Luke James - who went the whole of last season without scoring.

There were genuine cheers in the away end when Liam Sercombe registered Rovers first shot on goal in the 89th minute. Perhaps emboldened by this reaction, Sercombe went on to complete an impressive hat-trick of on target shots in injury time, all of which were comfortably gathered by the young Shrewsbury keeper. 4-0 at the final whistle.

Rovers manager Darrell Clarke felt it necessary to come and apologise to the travelling fans. Needless to say some of the more fickle amongst us had strong words of frustration. To most gasheads though he is a legend who has dragged us up to league one from the depths of the conference.

A miserable result, but liberated by the words of Johnnie Vaughn I was free to cherish some of the positives and small victories of the night. That coffee from Gloucester services, I'd ticked off another ground in the long and stuttering quest to do the 92. Fine company and scenery had been enjoyed on the way up, and its not every day you get to sit with the owner! Even on the football side of things, we'd 'drawn' the second half 0-0 and 'won' the corner count 4-1. All in all I'm definitely claiming this as part of the rich tapestry of joy that is following your team home and away.