Shrewsbury Town 0-0 Derby County - Report

Steve Cotterill's men backed up their first win of the season at the weekend with another organised performance against a Derby County side with lots of quality for League One football.

In a quiet opening half Town sat deep and allowed the visitors to have the ball.

And The Rams did not create a chance from open play, but they should have taken the lead when Richard Stearman missed a header from a few yards from a set piece.

Town came out with more aggression and energy about them after the break, which lifted the home crowd.

There were chances for Udoh, Nurse and Leahy. With the latter trying a long-range lob of Joe Wildsmith, which went just over the bar.

Derby were able to use their squad depth to bring on reinforcements, including David McGoldrick, as both teams searched for the goal that would be the winner.

Either side could have won it at the end. Louie Sibley had an effort saved by Marosi, and Daniel Udoh missed a golden opportunity in injury time to secure all three points.

Cotterill made one change to the side that got their first league win of the season at Wycombe on Saturday with Tom Bayliss coming in for Taylor Moore in midfield.

It was the usual back three of Matthew Pennington, Chey Dunkley and Tom Flanagan for Shrewsbury.

Again George Nurse and Julien Dacosta played in the wingback roles.

Luke Leahy, Jordan Shipley and Bayliss made up the midfield three, behind Rekeil Pyke and Daniel Udoh.

Cotterill was only able to name six substitutes on his bench, a worrying sign for Town with the volume of fixtures they have coming up.

Ryan Bowman, who started the first two league games against Morecambe and Accrington, missed the game altogether through injury.

Derby named a strong eleven, boasting a wealth of Championship and some Premier League experience.

But it was a quiet opening 15 minutes to the game, with very little goal-mouth action. Derby dominated the ball seeing 80% possession, but that did not lead to the visitors creating anything clear-cut.

For Town, they looked to absorb pressure and hit The Rams on the break, Dacosta put in a fabulous ball into their six-yard box, but nobody was there to attack it for Shrewsbury.

Derby's midfield, containing former Aston Villa player Conor Hourihane, were very composed on the ball, moving it around well, but without looking overly threatening.

The first big chance of the game arrived in the 35th minute. A free kick was whipped in by Hourihane to the back post and former Wolves defender Richard Stearman had a free header from just a few yards out.

But the effort went wide when he really should have scored.

Shortly after Derby had another chance. Again, Hourihane was the creator. He played in Barkhuizen, who should have squared it to Collins, because The Rams' number nine was unmarked in the middle, but instead, he chose to shoot, and Marko Marosi made himself big to block the strike.

The Town boss would have been happy with his side's defensive shape and organisation at halftime. The game had very few efforts on goal. Derby passed the ball around in front of Salop, and they kept their shape and made good blocks and clearances when they needed to.

And Shrewsbury came racing out of the blocks in the second half. A long ball forward was flicked on by Pyke, and Udoh found himself with space running into the Derby penalty area. But he tried to be too clever and lob Wildsmith, and his strike went wide of the mark.

A couple of minutes later, Nurse was given room to shoot from distance. His strike was flicked on by Pennington, but he could not direct his header towards goal and it went wide.

Derby were able to bring on quality from the bench. The former Sheffield United forward David McGoldrick came off the bench in the 53rd minute as the visitors tried to wrestle the momentum back for the visitors.

But Town were almost in again. Udoh won the ball back in the centre circle, and he laid it off for Leahy. The skipper spotted Wildsmith off his line and tried to lob him from distance. If it was on target, it would have been 1-0 to Town, but it went inches over.

Derby made four changes in the second half, and the fresh legs began to push Town back.

With not long left on the clock, Derby thought they had found the winner when Sibley was found unmarked at the back post by substitute Lewis Dobbin. But his effort was brilliantly saved by Marosi.

And deep into injury time, Daniel Udoh almost won the points for Town when the ball fell to him inside Derby's penalty area, but the forward blazed the ball over the bar when he just need to hit the target.

Salop: (3-4-1-2): Marosi, Pennington, Dunkley, Flanagan, Dacosta, Nurse, Bayliss, Leahy, Shipley, Pyke, Udoh.

Subs - Moore, Burgoyne, Bloxham, Caton, Craig, Barlow.

Derby: (4-3-3) Wildsmith, Hourihane, Cashin, Barkhuizen (Sibley 64mins), Bird, Collins, Mendez-Laing (Dobbin 64mins), Smith (McGoldrick 53mins), Roberts (Forsyth 78mins), Stearman, Knight.

Subs - Anang, Rooney, Thompson.

Attendance 7,867

Booked; Flanagan.