Shrewsbury Town may play their football three divisions below Premier League leaders Chelsea, but you wouldn't have been able to tell in their Capital One Cup clash at Greenhous Meadow on Tuesday. The plucky fourth tier side were agonisingly downed 2-1 at home to their rather more illustrious visitors, though only after a surprisingly even encounter.
Shrewsbury Town vs. Chelsea: Final score 1-2, Blues sneak past plucky Shrews
League Two side Shrewsbury Town were excellent in their Capital One Cup clash with Chelsea on Tuesday, but eventually succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.
Laurence Griffiths
In fact, Shrewsbury almost took the lead inside five minutes, when striker Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro latched onto the end of a corner and forced Petr Čech into diving save, before the Blues’ defenders frantically scrambled the ball from danger. It marked the start of an impressive half from the Shrews, who were arguably the more dangerous attacking threat.
Though Chelsea saw plenty of the ball, Shrewsbury’s positional play was incredibly disciplined, and the visitors struggled to find any space in which they could do damage. Didier Drogba thought he’d finally found the breakthrough on the stroke of halftime, though his goal was chalked off for offside.
However, it took just moments of the second half before the Shrews’ resistance was finally broken. Mohamed Salah’s perfect chip over the top of the defence was met in the area by Drogba, who made no mistake from point-blank range by lashing the ball into the back of Jayson Leutwiler’s goal.
But, if Chelsea thought the goal would open the Shrewsbury floodgates, they were mistaken. The hosts almost drew level within 10 minutes of going behind, when a long-range drive from defender Nathaniel Knight-Percival skimmed off the turf and against the back of James Collins, just flashing wide of the Chelsea goal. Collins went close again moments later, with his low effort from outside the area narrowly missing the left post. At the other end, Leutwiler made an important save to deny Drogba a brace, and keep the contest alive.
It was just as well, as the hosts managed to scramble in an equaliser with just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining. A corner from Liam Lawrence was flicked into the path of substitute Andy Mangan -- who had only been on the field two minutes -- with the striker turning the ball home from point-blank range.
Sadly, the Shrews’ elation quickly turned to despair, as Chelsea netted an equaliser just four minutes later. A deep cross from Willian was turned inside the back post by defender Jermaine Grandison, and the Blues’ lead was restored. This time, they didn’t let it slip, holding on to record a hard-fought victory over a plucky Shrewsbury, who will no doubt look to use this excellent performance as motivation in their push for promotion from League Two.
Shrewsbury Town: Leutwiler; Grandison, Goldson, Knight-Percival; Grimmer, Woods, Lawrence, Demetriou; Grant (Clark 67’); Collins (Mangan 75’), Akpa Akpro
Goals: Mangan (77’).
Chelsea: Čech; Filipe Luís, Cahill, Zouma, Christensen; Aké, Mikel (Matić 80’); Schürrle, Oscar (Hazard 90+3’), Salah (Willian 80’); Drogba.
Goals: Drogba (49’), Grandison (o.g. 81’).
See More:
