Tyler strikes to
THERE were four changes to Brian Barry-Murphy’s starting XI. Robert Sanchez returned from injury to take his place between the sticks with Jay Lynch dropping to the bench while Paul McShane replaced Jim McNulty in the heart of the defence, Aaron Morley came in for MJ Williams and Aaron Wilbraham was preferred to Tyler Smith up front.
There was no place in the squad for Luke Matheson, understandable given the teenager had been involved in negotiations over his move to Wolves in the days before the game, and the returning Matty Lund had not been registered in time to be considered for selection.
Jimmy Ryan was a whisker away from playing Ollie Rathbone in after good work on the right from Jimmy Keohane and Ian Henderson while at the other end it took a superb block from Eoghan O’Connell to prevent Conor McAleny capitalising on a loose pass from Rhys NorringtonDavies.
Morley was the first with a shot on target, his 25-yarder posing no real threat to Max O’Leary in the Shrews’ goal but the clearest chance was created by the visitors just shy of the half hour mark.
When Josh Laurent broke forward through the centre Shrewsbury had a four-on-three situation – Laurent opted for a pass to Jason Cummings, who should have scored but was foiled by the outstretched leg of Sanchez.
Donald Love struck an angled drive from the right-hand edge of the penalty area which Sanchez parried and, for Dale, Morley had another attempt from distance – less comfortable than the first for O’Leary to deal with but nevertheless a fairly tame end to a first half of few chances.
Wilbraham and Henderson were slightly out of sync as the former attempted to play in the latter at the start of the second half while Shrewsbury worked an opening when Love played in Laurent, yards from goal – he failed to connect cleanly and Cummings, first to the loose ball, sliced an effort wide under pressure from the Dale defence.
Dale’s best move of the game came on the hour mark when Matt Done broke down a Shrewsbury attack and the ball was moved forward at pace through Wilbraham and Keohane, Rathbone’s clipped cross from the left deflected over the crossbar by Ethan Ebanks-Landell.
From the resulting corner, Morley’s delivery was flicked on by Wilbraham but headed over by Henderson at close range.
Sanchez flew down to his right to keep out a snapshot from Lang and Keohane tried his luck from 30 yards with a fierce drive which skimmed the surface just in front of O’Leary, the goalkeeper holding on to the ball.
A game every bit as drab as the Greater Manchester weather looked to be heading towards the goalless draw it deserved – until Dale grabbed the winner two minutes from time.
Henderson’s shot struck the crossbar and with the Shrewsbury defence slow to react, Matty Done’s attempt to convert the rebound was blocked, but Smith was there to smash home from close range.
Sanchez, Keohane,
McShane, O’Connell, Norrington-Davies, Morley (McLaughlin, 76), Rathbone, Ryan, Dooley (Done, 55), Wilbraham (Smith, 67), Henderson. Subs not used: McNulty, Williams, Lynch, Tavares
O’Leary, Golbourne, Edwards, Williams, Beckles, Love, McAleny (Goss, 82), Lang (Whalley, 70), Ebanks-Landell, Laurent, Cummings (Udoh, 76). Subs not used: Murphy, Pierre, Walker, Hart
C Boyeson 2829