Shrewsbury Town 6 Market Drayton 0 - report
Shrewsbury Town skipper Liam Lawrence shrugged off an injury scare driving his men to their six goal second half Shropshire Cup semi-final spree at Market Drayton.
Grounded for several minutes by a clash with debut home striker Si Everell, Lawrence was clearly determined Shrews would not be allowed to drift into a routine result against part-timers who had already given their all, keeping the score-sheet clean for 47 minutes.
"I wanted goals," he said. "After we had scored two in quick succession just after half-time, I shouted to the lads to step up the tempo and score more goals."
He shrugged off the injury saying: "I heard a crack when I turned my foot but I was able to run it off and it seems okay now."
Lawrence's arrival with a complete new line-up of 11 players, including most of Shewsbury's big guns, marked the end of whatever hopes Drayton had nurtured with a spirited effort against their first half XI in which newcomers Junior Brown from Mansfield and Matt Tootle from Crewe Alexandra were out to impress.
Town's resistance was highlighted by a string of fine saves from 17-year-old keeper Ash Rawlings, especially to deny Liam McAlinden, and a typically tenacious performance in central defence by skipper Paul McMullen who was also responsible for their only realistic goal effort, heading just wide from Will Whieldon's early corner.
With Lawrence urging them on, Shrewsbury not only found a higher gear that had been denied them but kept it, ripping into increasingly weary-looking opposition with sparkling work on the flanks by new boy Shaun Whalley from Luton Town and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and some killer-cool finishing.
Scott Vernon led the way as Shrewsbury surged forward to get on the end of a stream of crosses behind the home defence punctuated by even more devastating pull-backs into the path of some canny runners.
But it was Tyrone Barnett who first opened the floodgates with a header from a corner two minutes after the break and when Martin Woods quickly added a second, Shrewsbury were on their way.
Vernon hit two spectacular shots in as many minutes as the ball was pulled back across goal and completed his impressive hat-trick with an equally good header on the 84th minute before Mickey Demetriou rounded things off with another fine finish as the clock ran down.
Shrewsbury manager Mickey Mellon pronounced himself well pleased with the professional attitude his players had shown on and off the field and his gratitude for the reception they had received.
Market Drayton director of football Mick Murphy declared it a day for the club to remember and paid tribute to the way the players, who had only a handful of evening training sessions in which to pepare, had stuck to their guns against far superior opposition.
The clash narrowly failed to set a new attendance record at Greenfields, missing by just two to best the existing total of 440 set in a Shropshire Cup semi-final against Telford in 2009. But the contest can surely claim to have set a record of sorts – whenever have 38 players appeared in a single 90 minutes cup tie before?
Market Drayton Town: Rawlings, Wellings, Ward, Whielden, McMullen, Hedley, Campbell, McFarlane, Everell, Haughton, O'Reilly. Second half subs: O'Neill, McGowan, Iofona, Garratt, Street.
Shrewsbury : Leutwiler, Tootle, Sadler, Woods, Smith, Goldson, Clarke, McKnight, Collins, McAlinden, Brown. Second half: Burton, Patterson, Ellis, Grandison, Demetriou, Woods, Lawrence, Whalley, Vernon, Akpa Akpro, Barnett.
