Too right. He was excellent, and the way he shut Ryan Hall out of the game completely was a considerable reason for how fruitless we looked going forward today.
We were poor today, make no mistake. Second best to every ball and came a cropper against a very well organised outfit. Shrewsbury aren't spectacular at all, distinctly similar to ourselves in fact, but make it very difficult to carve open opportunities against them and took there's extraordinarily well. Harrold produced a great finish for their second, whilst the first he did handball in the lead up.
As for us, well, where to start. Clohessy had a poor game, and it has been coming for a while. Hall was shut out by the excellent Gladinson and Grant was simply not at the races. As they shut out Hall, Corr was starved of service and was doubled up on by the two Shrewsbury centre-backs who dealt with him fairly well. Sturrock worked hard to little effect, and we really did make hard work of forcing any form of goalscoring chance.
Their goal, on the stroke of half-time, probably took it out of us, but we were still unquestionably poor and can perform far better than we showed today. Both sets of fans have a lot to answer for. I've not got anything against making it difficult for opposition players per se, but the abuse of Harrold overstepped the mark and throwing missile at him is the act of absolute scum. That said, the Shrewsbury fans who jeered Mohsni as he was stretchered off ought to be ashamed of themselves, too.
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Agree completely.
Their no 18 played a blinder, and Ryan Hall had no chance to make an impact as he was marked completely out of the game. Clohessy, Grant and Corr all had a bad day at the office, which didnt help, and any hint of creativity was immediately and effectively dealt with by a well organised Shrewsbury side. They arent any better than us, to be honest, but they did work as a team far better than we did. They also looked like the sort of tricky team that does well in this division, big, strong and effective at railroading through the opposition. We didnt help ourselves at all by missing a couple of golden opportunities in the first half and getting dragged into hoofball, which was always going to be a bad plan against their height and in that wind! In defence of Blair, he was creating space, which Corr failed miserably to take advantage of - couldnt work out why he was substituted and Corr stayed on, thought he was the better of the two of them. We made a serious dogs breakfast of that, and until we can sort that out we will continue to be also-rans!
Evans - 5 - Obviously didnt notice the wind and distribution not as good as it should be.
Clohessy - 5 - as already stated, bad day at the office.
Barker - 6 - Looked unspectacular but solid.
Mohsni - 6 - Played well, caused a few problems, but should not have scrapped with Harrold - if he hadnt been carted off on a stretcher, I was convinced one of the two of them would be taking an early bath! Fingers crossed its nothing too serious and he's back soon.
Gilbert - 6 - Solid and unspectacular, but did nothing wrong
Ferdinand - 5 - Difficult game for the lad, he had an almost useless Grant and caged Hall with him in midfield, so was never going to cope.
Easton - 5 - Same situation - 2 of them trying to do four jobs.
Grant - 4 - Whatever's going on Granty, sort it out! Cant understand why he's taken to throwing himself on the floor in a poor attempt to get a free kick, and not sure if he's carrying an injury, as the sharpness has gone. Maybe a couple of games on the bench to let Sawyer have a run?
Hall - 5 - Had no chance today, was rendered completely ineffective
Sturrock - 6.5 - Worked tirelessly, pulled the defence to create space; all to no avail as he was running the front line on his own - why oh why didnt Sturrock leave Blair on the pitch, take Corr off and give Harry a run out alsongside him?
Corr - 5 - Looked a yard too slow and unfit today. However, overall, would rather have Corr up front than Harrold.
Never did understand the hatred of Matt Harrold that went on while he was with us, and I dont like to see ex-blues players given a hard time, but its also very irritating that yet again, one of our many under achieving ex-centre forwards pitches up at The Hall, plays better than he ever played for us, and then scores...
Special word for Sawyer - very talented, quick and intelligent play, which will become a huge asset at the back end of the season when the rest of them catch up!!
