Cardiff City given timely reminder by Shrewsbury Town of the need to be clinical during their promotion bid -
By Ian Mitchelmore
Wednesday 26th July 2017
Shrewsbury Town 2-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City were given a timely reminder of just how clinical they will need to be if they are going to gain promotion next season as they tasted defeat for the first time in pre-season against League One outfit Shrewsbury Town.
A mini second half capitulation ultimately cost the Bluebirds as far as the result was concerned, but the visitors created a hatful of chances in the glorious Shropshire sunshine to have won the game routinely.
Kenneth Zohore and Lee Tomlin showed signs of forging an impressive partnership in the opening half - which saw Cardiff lead through Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's tap in - while Kadeem Harris put in a real shift on the left wing.
But a Shaun Whalley penalty and a close-range Louis Dodds strike in the space of three second half minutes earned Paul Hurst's side victory to serve as a timely reminder that the Bluebirds simply must bury their chances, although Neil Warnock will be relieved that his side are creating them in abundance.
Tomlin said in the build-up to the match that he was looking to score 10 goals in his debut season in the Welsh capital as well as racking up between 10 and 15 assists.
Having assisted Kenneth Zohore against Plymouth at Home Park on Friday night, the No.10 almost did the same thing in the third minute in Shrewsbury, with his inch-perfect through ball finding the feet of Zohore, but the Dane curled his effort over the bar.
Neil Warnock will no doubt have been satisfied with his side's showings on their three-game tour of Cornwall and Devon earlier this month, and the Shrewsbury players themselves will have been looking to impress manager Paul Hurst ahead of the new campaign, as captain Abu Ogogo demonstrated with a meaty challenge on Greg Halford early on to quash any notion that the Bluebirds would have it easy in Shropshire.
However, it was Cardiff who continued to carry the greater threat in the earlier stages, but they remained alert at the back when needed as centre-back Bruno Manga stepped in with ease to usher the ball to safety when Louis Dodds got in behind the Bluebirds' defensive line.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was fortunate to be the only Cardiff man continuously in the shade in the opening half as the sun drenched over the left hand side of the Montgomery Waters Meadow.
And he certainly showed he has pace to burn as he darted up the right wing, jinking his way in and out before feeding Zohore on the edge of the area, but Ogogo threw his body on the line to block the Dane's effort.
Unusually for a friendly, there was certainly plenty of spice to the game in the opening half an hour, and Shrewsbury midfielder Shaun Whalley would have collected a yellow card for his robust challenge on Kadeem Harris in the centre circle midway through the first half had it been made in a competitive fixture.
And Halford followed suit shortly after with a late foul on Ogogo after losing track of the hosts' captain.
Having wriggled his way out of a tight space just minutes earlier, Jazz Richards once again linked up with Zohore on the left, but the striker was unable to keep his effort on target from just inside the area.
The Dane's persistence will have pleased Warnock, and the striker's efforts were rewarded on the stroke of half time as he hunted down Mat Sadler after Shrewsbury goalkeeper Dean Henderson failed to come off his line to collect the ball, and Zohore's scuffed pass fell nicely to Mendez-Laing who tapped in from six yards out to give the visitors the lead at the break.
Mercifully, clouds blocked the sun during the course of the interval as the temperature cooled slightly for the second half, which saw Warnock bring on Anthony Pilkington in place of scorer Mendez-Laing.
The visitors started the second half in the same vein in which they did for the opening 45 as Tomlin showed his guile and trickery to create space for a shot which was blocked by the home side's defence.
But a bizarre three-minute spell saw Hurst's side transform the game in the blink of an eye, a turnaround that was kick-started by Lee Peltier's foul on Whalley in the penalty area, with the Shrewsbury man converting from the spot, despite the efforts of Etheridge who got his feet to the ball.
And the home side were in-front less than two minutes later as Etheridge denied Whalley from close range, but Louis Dodds was on hand to lash home.
Having strolled through the opening 49 minutes, Shrewsbury's three-minute blitz seemed to have stunned the Bluebirds who - temporarily at least - showed signs of nervousness as the hosts grew in confidence.
It prompted Neil Warnock into making no fewer than four changes, with Joe Ralls and Frenchman Loic Damour replacing Aron Gunnarsson and Greg Halford in the centre of the park while Danny Ward and Matthew Kennedy were given the opportunity to impress in attack as Zohore and Tomlin were withdrawn.
Occupying the lone striker role, Ward did well to flick on a header into the path of Pilkington who was unable to get a shot away on the edge of the 18-yard box as the game ticked into the final quarter.
But Shrewsbury continued to go in search of a killer third, and came just a whisker away from doing so as Junior Brown's header rattled the crossbar from a corner after Sol Bamba's perfectly timed last-ditch tackle on Alex Rodman.
Ibrahim Meite was handed the chance to shine for the final 12 minutes as he joined Ward up-front, with Kadeem Harris making way.
But despite their inferior league status, Shrewsbury saw out the game with relative ease as the Bluebirds tasted defeat for the first-time in their pre-season campaign.
Shrewsbury Town: Henderson, Sadler, Whalley, Ogogo, Morris, Dodds, Brown, Bolton, Nolan, Nsiala, Rodman.
Subs not used: MacGillivray, Gnohua, John-Lewis, Morris, Adams, Jules, James, Shelis.
Goals: Whalley 49 (pen), Dodds 51
Cardiff City: Etheridge, Peltier (Bennett 54), Manga, Bamba, Richards (Coxe 84), Mendez-Laing (Pilkington 45), Gunnarsson (Ralls 63), Halford (Damour 63) (Morrison 87), K Harris (Meite 78), Tomlin (Kennedy 63), Zohore (Ward 63).
Subs not used: Byrne.
Goals: Mendez-Laing 44
Referee: Bobby Madley
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