Death, Taxes, and Boxing Day Defeat: Shrewsbury Town 1-0 Imps

Ah, the second half. “We’ll be alright,” said Chris in the Stacey West group chat. “We’re getting bugger all from this,” I said to my mate Pete, joining me on the sofa with his unique brand of misery only Manchester United supporters circa 2024 carry around with them. The truth is we didn’t get anything, but we absolutely should have. Whether that is a 2-1 win against ten men or a 2-0 defeat against ten men is another thing altogether.

I’m trying to keep this write-up short because numbers usually drop after a defeat, and I want to go and get a full English in Louth, but the second half had a few little talking points. The first I’ll touch on are three great chances. Bailey Cadamarteri will feel hugely upset with himself. After a fine run of form recently, he missed two chances that were both well within his capabilities for scoring. The thing with Bailey is that he scores goals. He’s not a link-up man and his touches around the box are usually minimal: he’s like a Gary Lineker or David Hirst, you put him in the box, stick balls in there and if they’re good, they go in. We stuck him in there, put some balls in, and two should have brought a goal.

The first was good work by Erhahon, splitting the Salop defence with a ball to Roughan. My Man of the Match put a cross in and there’s Bailey, diving header, trying to go across the keeper, which he did. It went wide, when perhaps near post would have had more power and more chance of going in. Frustrated, a minute later, Erhahon breaks and threads him through again, and despite being outside the area and with better options, he curls a ball high and wide over the bar. Then another Roughan delivery (note the theme here) provides the Sheff Weds loanee with a great headed chance, the sort we’ve seen him score time and again, and he takes his eye off it, it catches his shoulder and loops up and onto the bar. I’ve watched it back and boy, oh boy, should we have bagged one of those chances.

He wasn’t the only one; Freddie came on and will be really disappointed with his 73rd-minute effort. It came from a Tendayi mistake, a pass that had Hackett scampering back. He returned a deep cross and Draper is there, effort on target, but a weak one with time to spare. He spurned another late chance as well, mis-hitting it but keeping it on target.

So, there were chances (at both ends, this wasn’t all one-way traffic) but should we have played much of the second half against ten men? The answer is undoubtedly yes because Declan Bourne absolutely bottled a red. Mal Benning picked up a weak yellow for time wasting, which Bourne seemingly thought he could clamp down on. Irony alert – because he booked him, it allowed Benning another 20 seconds or so shouting back, eating up more time. Of course, that’s game management and when we were good at it back under Danny, we loved it. What Salop do and what that odious creature Evans does are two routes to the same end. Gareth does it in a lovable rogue style, or at least his teams do, but there was nothing lovable about Benning’s tackle not five seconds after the ball is back in play. He’s late, back turned and high on Jeffries. It’s 100% a yellow card, all day long and twice on Sundays, but seemingly not on Boxing Day. Bourne bottled it.

Now, if he’d given the yellow for the foul first, I get him using a bit of discretion for time wasting, such is the offence and the ambiguity of what draws a yellow for taking five seconds too long from a throw in. However, there’s zero ambiguity about a tackle which was described by some as cowardly. It’s a yellow, and the fact he’s just been given one for time-wasting is completely irrelevant. That’s not why we lost, but had the referee had some balls, perhaps we’d have had a chance to try to break ten men down.

Speaking of ten men, Dylan Duffy has given away the most brainless penalty I think I’ve seen in years. We’ve been lucky recently, avoiding obvious pens against Huddersfield and Reading, so Duffy obviously felt we were charmed when he palmed the ball clear in the area from a deep cross. I’ve watched it back and I just laugh each time, because I don’t see how he’s only got a booking. If the referee thinks ‘that’s made amends for the Benning error’ he’s wrong. He’s basically had a mare, and Dylan is a lucky boy to not be facing a ban. I wonder if he’s been playing in goal in training and forgot he was in an actual match.

The scene was set for John Marquis to net against his former side, but George Wickens made it two saves from two from the spot in recent weeks, perhaps ensuring he gets a higher rating than most this week. I thought the keeper had a decent game, he made saves where needed, one in the first half through a crowd of players, and he couldn’t be blamed for the goal at all. It’s of little comfort of course, apart from to George.

That was more or less that. Once again, we lost on Boxing Day, and people were asking how we could be so good in patches against Huddersfield and outstanding against Reading, and then go to this. There’s always a variable, the opposition, and that has to be a factor. I watched Shrewsbury a few weeks ago, and they were awful. That is the measure by which many judged them yesterday. Sadly, with Sir Gareth at the wheel, they’re always going to improve, scrap for points and make things difficult, especially at home, and there’s your variable. We couldn’t play the same way against Salop as we did against Reading, because it’s a different game, different conditions and different opposition.

It really frustrates me, if I’m honest, that so many football fans can’t see that. They think the opposition are just faceless henchmen, like in an Austin Powers movie, there to be pushed aside as the hero forges on. Football is not black and white.

I’d also say this about xG (1959 words in, come on, it’s allowed now). In the game against Huddersfield, we were apparently excellent in the first half. Our xG was 0.3 (0.0 in the second). In the second half yesterday, our xG was 0.64. The chances we created were widely accepted to be twice as good as the game in which we scored two goals. I know xG is subjective, but if you’re looking for plusses, we have four chances in the second period, any two of which give us a win. We have a moment early doors where 99 referees out of 100 send Benning off and things turn. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

Why? Because it’s Boxing Day, and we lose on Boxing Day. Here’s hoping for atrocious weather next December, so the bloody game is moved.