Shrewsbury Town 2-2 Carlisle United

Three goals in 10 minutes provided an unexpectedly entertaining end to what had been a frustrating afternoon for Shrewsbury Town, who continued their winless run with a 2-2 draw against Carlisle United, and they were close to taking no points at all.

Town goal scorer Bradshaw

Tom Bradshaw gave Shrewsbury supporters something to cheer about in the first half with a goal in the 40^th minute. It seemed to come from nothing. Carlisle cleared the ball from a Town corner only for it to fall to Paul Parry, who managed to hook it back in to the opposite direction, finding Bradshaw clear and, crucially, onside. The Welshman executed the finish neatly to grab his second goal in as many games.

Carlisle had started brightly, whereas Town seemed to be  lacklustre and slightly off the pace at the beginning of the game. Amoo, in particular, looked a threat for the visitors. However, despite demonstrating good control, footwork and pace, his deliveries were frequently blocked by Joe Jacobson and the winger struggled to create opportunities for Carlisle’s attackers. On one rare occasion, Amoo found Matty Robson in the box, but he could only glance his header wide of the post.

Town enjoyed long periods of possession but, for the majority of the time, it was meaningless and the home side seemed to lack ambition to go forward and cause problems for their opponents. Jon Taylor looked promising on his return from suspension, and occasionally made darting runs on the left hand-side, leaving Carlisle’s comparatively slow defenders far behind. Adam Reach enjoyed similar success when running down the left and, like Taylor, managed to get in to good positions, allowing him to cross the ball in dangerously. It was pleasing to the eye, and there were some genuinely impressive movements of play, but Salop lacked a cutting edge, failing to create any clear cut chances.

Carlisle had a number of chances themselves. They struggled to utilise the height of striker Mark Beck to their full potential. Although Beck presented physical prowess and physique, the Carlisle attacker did not make as significant an impact as expected.

Bradshaw’s solitary goal separated the two sides going in to half-time. Though leading the game, Town had not been convincing and appeared to be reluctant to go for a more direct approach.

‘Frustrated’ best describes Shrewsbury supporters in the second half. Winning 1-0, the expectation was that Shrewsbury would attempt to kill the game off, particularly with them being at home. With all due respect to the visiting team, they were up against a Carlisle side that, for most of the first half, had looked average. There were no doubts that this was a winnable game.  Carlisle hadn’t threatened Shrewsbury as much as they would have hoped to.

Despite this, Shrewsbury came out and displayed a performance that implied they were playing for statistics instead of three points. Credit to them, they managed to play some close and tidy football at times, which was encouraging. Frequently, the defence and midfield used the wingers as outlets, finding Taylor and Reach in ideal positions to deliver the ball in to the box. Did they deliver though? No. Almost every time they were in these positions, the wingers decided to play it back to the defenders. The defenders would then often opt for goalkeeper Weale, taking the ball further back.

Having worked hard to get in to these productive areas, where they could cause Carlisle serious problems, they let the visitors off the hook. Not only did this largely negative style of play lead to a severe breakdown in momentum when they managed to gather some, it invited Carlisle to attack and pressure them.
Carlisle had already had a couple of chances in the second half. There wasn’t necessarily a need for an invitation. Amoo had come close 10 minutes in when his header was cleared by Aaron Wildig on the line. Just five minutes earlier, Dave Symington looked to have created a certain goal, but Robson volleyed Symington’s cross straight over the bar from close range.

Jon Taylor nearly doubled Town’s lead when his 25 yard drive was superbly saved by Gillespie on 71 minutes and Adam Reach should have given the Carlisle goalkeeper more to do when he cut in on to his left foot, 16 minutes from time, to release what proved to be a tame effort.

Shrewsbury paid the consequences of trying to close the game out at 1-0 when Amoo found his way in the box.  He managed to score on his second attempt when a neat cut back led him to smash it in to the roof of the net.

Carlisle weren’t finished there. In the space of five minutes, the game had completely turned around as Sean O’Hanlon rose from a corner to head Carlisle in to the lead in the 90^th minute.

Suddenly, Shrewsbury had gone from looking likely victors for the first time in over a month, to fighting for a draw.

Salop did fight back to rescue a point, bringing the temporarily delirious Carlisle supporters back to normality. A breakdown in Carlisle’s defence and concentration, probably due to the euphoria of taking the lead so dramatically, allowed Paul Parry through on goal to calmly slot home an equaliser.

Graham Turner had mixed feelings about Shrewsbury’s result after the match, saying "I don't think it was a bad performance by any means but overall it's two points lost and certainly not one that deserved a defeat.

"We have a reputation of conceding late goals and we need to stop that. But, when you go 2-1 down, you have to think it's a point gained.”

Turner’s side will look to bounce back from their recent disappointment with another crucial home match on Saturday, this time against 16^th placed Gillingham. The Gills are one place behind Shrewsbury and are currently on the same amount of points so this has the makings of a highly competitive League One fixture with large significance for both sides.