The Timing of the Shrews

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 03/10/2026

GRIMSBY lost for the second successive weekend, and for the first time at Blundell Park, thanks to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Shrewsbury. The Shrews scored first, somewhat against the run of play. Town struggled to break the Shews down, and it was the visitors who added a second after the break.

Finlay Cartwright gave Town something to build on when he pulled a goal back for Grimsby, but they failed to add further goals and the game drifted to a frustrating conclusion.

David Artell responded to the defeat at Newport with four changes. Edon Pruti started his first league match, and Amaluzor, Doyle and Cook all came back into the side. Kacurri, Finlay Cartwright, Shelton and Morgan were the four players replaced.

Town started brightly and looked the better side in early play with an early chance for Rodgers to put in a ball for Green on the break, but it was just ahead of Town's captain. Shortly afterwards Vernam and Cook combined on a one-two and Cook's shot was well saved. Rodgers hit the rebound wide.

Shrewsbury took the lead from a corner, with some poor Town marking giving Boyle a free header, which was turned in by former Mariner Lloyd from close range. Fletcher then headed wide from a cross which could have seen the Shrews double their lead.

Some home pressure led to another chance when Walker shot through a crowd of legs; the ball was cleared and fell to Vernam, who shot wide.

But Shrews continued to threaten despite Grimsby having more possession, and a short corner led to a McMahon-Brown effort going over the bar.

Town started the second half with a half chance for Green after good play from Amaluzor, but his shot at the keeper was tame. The Shrews had a chance to double their lead, but a Fletcher snapshot was too high.

Shrewsbury put some daylight between the two teams with a second goal. A Berkoe cross was cleared and then fell to McMahon-Brown, who dug the ball out for a good finish into the corner of the net, but Town will once again look at their defending. Boyle then had a free header but missed when they could have gone 3-0 up.

Grimsby finally made a game of it when Amaluzor won a free kick, and Morgan's set piece went in off the back of Cartwright's head.

Shrewsbury frustrated the crowd with their time-wasting. Town brought on their final subs, but the grandstand finish failed to materialise, and Boyle went close to scoring again, heading just over the bar.

So the match finished 1-2, and Grimsby once again failed to finish off the chances they had, and having conceded first looked vulnerable to concede more. Kacurri was missed in defence, and the bench lacked the firepower to really mount a sustained challenge in the second half. Scoring the first goal is always important, and having failed to do so, the Mariners were always on the back foot, and Shrewsbury were able to slow the game down to suit them.

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