United 2 Shrewsbury 1

Match Sponsor: SPEARPOINT CONSTRUCTION

Matchball Sponsor: PAUL BASTARD

Man of the Match: Mustapha Carayol

On Friday evening Grimsby Town left the door ajar for United to step through and move further away from the relegation places in League 2 when they lost at home to Northampton. Less than 24 hours later and the Gulls barged through the open gap in a hard fought victory over Shrewsbury at Plainmoor.

Despite going a goal down United hauled themselves back into the game and eventual victory with a strong second half performance. Goals from Mark Ellis and Scott Rendell cancelled out a first half own goal by Chris Zebroski as United added to Shrewsbury's recent run of poor results and ended their own mini-run of two defeats.

There was one change for United with Kevin Nicholson starting at left back for the first time since the reverse fixture against Shrewsbury back in the middle of November. Nicholson's inclusion meant Adam Smith dropped to the bench and was joined by among others Michael Poke and Kieran Charnock who have returned from recent injury lay-offs.

There was some early drama when Cansdell-Sherrif was shown a yellow card inside the first ten seconds for hauling back Elliot Benyon who had charged down the Shrewsbury defender's clearance forty yards out. Shortly after and the visitors had their first sight at goal when Hibbert hit a strong first-time effort that Scott Bevan held at the second attempt.

In the eleventh minute Button in the Shrewsbury goal was called into action after a Chris Zebroski right foot shot deflected off Dunfield and almost looped into the net but Button tipped over for a corner. The early stages saw both teams creating chances and Holden tested Bevan with a thirty yard low drive which was parried away at the expense of a corner by the Gulls' 'keeper.

From the resultant open play a long throw from the Shrewsbury right was almost headed into his own net by Guy Branston although the United defender did well to win the challenge itself. From the following corner Scott Bevan made a fine save from a deflected header but disaster struck when Holden returned a low ball across United's six yard box and the ball hit Chris Zebroski and deflected the ball into the net.

Goal: United 0 Shrewsbury 1 (Zebroski o.g. 27)

Soon after the goal Hibbert forced another decent save from Bevan with a snap shot from 12 yards. After a decent enough start United had slipped off the pace a little and were second to the ball too often for their liking. Despite having to dust themselves down after the blow of conceding United continued to try and press forward and Nicky Wroe had a twenty yard central free-kick deflected over as United found plenty of good attacking field position but couldn't test Button enough. At the other end Shrewsbury were pressing the Gulls but certainly weren't carving their way through United's defence.

Half-Time: United 0 Shrewsbury 1

United made a superb start to the second period when within two minutes of the restart a Kevin Nicholson corner was whipped in to the far post and was met by Mark Ellis, the ball hit a Shrewsbury defender on the line but he couldn't stop the ball going in and the scores were level. It was a dream start and set the pattern for United's second half performance which was full of purpose and endeavour.

Goal: United 1 (Ellis 47) Shrewsbury 1

The officials seemed at times to be watching a different game with some curious decisions but none so far had proved important to the proceedings even though they were exasperating and caused a certain amount of disbelief in the crowd as well as on the pitch.

Button made a good block from a shot by a stumbling Elliot Benyon who did well to get a shot off under close attention from Cansdell-Sherriff. United had looked far more dangerous since they equalised and they took the lead just after the hour mark. Another well planned set-piece, clearly something that had been worked on during the build-up to this match, saw the Nicholson-Ellis combination at work once again, this time Mark headed Nico's corner back across goal and it was met by Chris Robertson who headed toward goal. Another goalmouth scramble ensued and Scott Rendell looked to have got the final touch as the ball crossed the line.

Goal: United 2 (Rendell 61) Shrewsbury 1

Mustapha Carayol tested Button with a low drive from the right edge of the penalty area after a jinking run as he caused the visitor's defence increasing problems. United were in control and were looking more likely to score the games' fourth goal then their visitors.

Danny Stevens replaced Mustapha Carayol, who had proved a thorn in Shrewsbury's side especially during the second half, and Mustapha had along with the dominant Guy Branston and the unruffled Kevin Nicholson been United's stand out players in an encouraging second half display.

There were flashes from Shrewsbury which showed why they have been challenging at the top end of League 2 this season but it was United who started to exploit the gaps which appeared around the pitch as legs tired on a sapping pitch.

Scott Rendell and Elliot Benyon had run their socks off for the cause and Elliot was given a breather near the end when Bucks sent on Kieran Charnock to solidify things at the back and lessen the chances of a dramatic late equaliser for Shrewsbury.

The final whistle brought both celebration and relief, this was a real opportunity to take another step toward seeing League 2 football again next season at Plainmoor and the chance had been taken. Nothing sets a team up better for a long trip on a Bank Holiday than a home win 48 hours before and it will be a confident set of players and supporters that dodge the roadwork cones on Monday morning.