Bernie McNally: Ryan Barnett makes the most of his Shrewsbury Town chance

The 18-year-old was handed an opportunity to impress against Manchester City’s under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night – and, blimey, he did just that, writes Bernie McNally.

He did not just hold his own, he was the man of the match at the Meadow.

I don’t know Ryan personally, but it is fantastic to see someone come through the ranks, get his chance in the first team, and stand out.

He has just shown that it can be done, that you can make that leap – if you put in the work.

You would love to have one come through the academy and make his mark in the senior set-up every year, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

In order to truly make it, you need the ability, the athleticism and, perhaps more than anything else, the desire.

And the coaches for the under-14s and 15s and so on will be talking about that this week, using Ryan as an example.

Ryan seems to have all those qualities and hopefully he continues to approach things in the same manner.

He has had a great game but it’s only one game. He seems a level-headed lad and will know there is plenty of work still to do but, for now, he can be proud of his efforts.

Another who will be in high spirits after that match is Lee Angol, who got on the scoresheet – making it two from his last two outings.

He’ll be delighted. From what he’s saying, he appears to be very confident – someone who trusts in his ability.

We were wondering where the goals were going to come from a couple of weeks ago and Lee may be the one who proves to be a regular scorer for Salop.

He’ll be hoping to chip in with another goal against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and the defence to play their part in order to get that first League One win on the board.

The result against City, drawing 1-1 and then winning 3-1 on penalties, technically counts as a draw but, really, it is as good as a win for John Askey and his players.

They may have conceded a penalty late on, which was converted to take it to a shootout, but they showed character to come out of the spot-kicks on top.

The Luton game last weekend was a topsy-turvy one and they couldn’t hold on, which would have been very disappointing.

But when you’re struggling a bit for form, you want those cup games to try to put things right and, after that, they’ll be feeling a bit better about themselves.

You just hope Town have turned a corner now and can go into Saturday with the right mindset – and hopefully have that rub of the green to get that much-needed win.