Bernard McNally: Occasion does not live up to the expectation for Shrewsbury Town
It was a great occasion for Shrewsbury, but the performance and result were bitterly disappointing.
There’s so much expectation from the fans, they want to see their team give a decent account of themselves.
You can feel that frustration and you can understand it, but it just shows the class that this very young Liverpool side has.
There was a lot of expectation going up there, particularly with Liverpool fielding such a young side.
It shows you the different class from the Premier League downwards – there is a big gulf there.
I can feel the fans’ disappointment, particularly on the back of the last few league games, which haven’t been terrific and the frustration is setting in.
There doesn’t seem to be any great consistency in the side and I feel for the fans.
This was the Cup and it’s ironic that it’s a second own goal, with Donald Love in the first game and Ro-Shaun Williams on Tuesday, that was the decider. That’s the disappointing thing.
It will be tough for Williams, but he has a great career ahead of him.
It’s just one of those things, sometimes they happen in football, that is the nature of the game.
You need to mentally pick yourself up and start all over again – that’s exactly what they’ll have to do and I’m sure they will.
It’s just a little blip in the season.
Even if they had got a goal back, or that goal wasn’t ruled out and it went to extra-time, the fans might have been happier.
The debate is with VAR at the minute – one minute you celebrate with a goal and three seconds later you’re thinking ‘Oh no, what’s going to happen here?’.
There is a big deflation from the fans.
Just seeing how the fans reacted and how joyous they were, to then have it ruled out.
This is football, it’s great when it goes your way, but when it goes against you then it doesn’t taste as sweet.
But the players have put little Shrewsbury back on the map again for another Cup exploit.
It can have a bearing when they’re trying to sign players, so I’m sure it will stand us in good stead.
I can only commiserate with the fans and hopefully we’ll start to pick up in the league.
That is the bread and butter, Shrewsbury now have to start picking up some results to get them back up the table.
Against MK Dons and Accrington coming up, you need to be looking at six points.
They need to give the fans something to shout about – we are getting to that point where we need points on the board.
These next two games are absolutely vital for us – to come away with six points would be fantastic.
Life would be easier and the table would look better with back-to-back wins – it would do us tremendous good as a team.
