ON THE edge of an unprepossessing part of deepest Shropshire, near to the district of Meole Brace, past Percy Thrower’s World of Gardening and round the corner from the Aldi supermarket, you finally reach the Montgomery Water Stadium, home to Shrewsbury Town Football Club.

The stadium is only a matter of miles from Ironbridge Gorge and the 1779 monument to the industry around that site which helped forge the Industrial Revolution.

Yet it was an emerging sporting revolution that drew you to Shrewsbury’s 2-1 defeat by visitors Portsmouth on Saturday.

Danny Cowley’s Pompey revolution to be precise, as his 10 men climbed into the League One play-off places with a gutsy victory, sealing his second win in a row after becoming boss. 

The welcome pair of victories for the slumbering south coast giants stemmed five straight defeats and nearly six hours without a goal for a Portsmouth team devoid of confidence — the poor run of form ensuring previous incumbent Kenny Jackett lost his job, when the League One club fell to fourth-tier Salford City at Wembley in the final of the Papa John’s Trophy earlier this month.

Marcus Harness and John Marquis, who was later sent off for a thundering challenge on Harry Chapman, put Cowley’s Pompey 2-0 ahead in a majestic first-half performance, with the lively Nathaniel Ogbeta netting for the hosts after the interval. 

No wonder Cowley said afterwards: “It was a really good first-half performance, we were able to play with a really good level of control. We got good dominance in the first half and I was certainly pleased with the goals we scored.”

So he should be, for Pompey dominated the opening 45 minutes in a display of excellent pressing and power, allied with no little attacking intent. And, following Marquis’s unfortunate expulsion after the interval, they provided a second half showing full of energy, endeavour, tactical intelligence and character. 

For their part, Shrewsbury battled gamely under manager Aaron Wilbraham. Or should we say assistant manager, for the boss, Steve Cotterill, has been in and out of hospital this troubling winter fighting Covid. 

A salutary reminder this dreadful pandemic is still very much with us, despite the sense of renewal that spring brings — along with the prospect of regulations finally starting to loosen from Monday in England. 

The 41-year-old Wilbraham, a dedicated professional and journeyman who played for 12 teams during his time as a yeoman striker joined The Shrews as Cotterill’s No 2 in December. Five weeks later he assumed responsibilities as boss when his new club travelled to the south coast to take on Premier League Southampton in the FA Cup, when respected veteran Cotterill became so debilitated with coronavirus he had to enter hospital.

Since then Shrewsbury have been under Wilbraham’s command. Results have been mixed but the Salopians have been battling hard in the lower reaches of the third tier, in parallel with — far more importantly — their leader fighting the battle of his life. 

The sentiment behind the county’s Latin motto “Floreat Salop,” which means “May Shropshire Flourish” could certainly be extended to the stricken Cotterill, and everyone associated with the game wishes him well. 

The adage was also proudly resplendent in a yellow and blue banner inside the ground, along with another that read of local pride: “Our club, our town, our badge.”

Behind the goal yet another read: “Blue Amber Army Football Standing Together” with a nearby sign proudly noting: “First Safe Standing in England and Wales, August 4, 2018” — the date the ground became the first in the country to have a safe standing area installed. 

The metal rails in front of empty yellow seats in the Salop Leisure Stand are currently as much as reminder of Covid as of such a pioneering measure.

Shrewsbury’s ground, near to the aforementioned Percy Thrower’s World of Gardening, was built in the summer of 2006 to replace the evocative Gay Meadow, the club’s home since 1910. Colloquially known as the New Meadow, the well-ordered 9,875 capacity ground consists of four separate stands, once again, alas, devoid of spectators during this gruelling pandemic.

To safeguard the long-term financial future of the club (New Meadow is marketed as having “banqueting” facilities for 300 people) Gay Meadow was sold to property developers. While the Shrews might be richer, football is far poorer without the former grand old ground on the banks of the River Severn — where a man in a rickety rowing boat was stationed throughout the 90 minutes of a game ready to retrieve the ball after errant shots.

As an aside, the final football match to be staged at Gay Meadow was the club’s annual friendly fixture between Shrewsbury’s “Away Supporters” team and the Shrewsbury Town backroom staff. In a delicious piece of football trivia Alan Roberts, the club’s police liaison officer, scored the only goal of the game, and thus the last goal at the ground.

Back to the present, and with Saturday’s game still scoreless prior to Harness’s opener, an inordinately long freight train chuntered along the tracks behind the stadium carrying Tesco branded freight containers. While that was happening Shrewsbury’s blonde haired No 20 Curtis Main enthusiastically ran the width of the pitch to close down Portsmouth’s right back Callum Johnson for the Salop cause. 

When the Pompey defender cleared his lines it was impossible not to think Main’s efforts certainly were a case of “every little helps” as the pair engaged in a full-blooded duel as part of an absorbing subplot.

The match was also punctuated by intelligent running from Shrews’ goalscorer Ogbeta. His quick feet and pace meant he was a constant threat to the Pompey backline, even at 2-0 down, after Harness and Marquis’s first-half goals for the victors on 25 and 36 minutes. 

None more so than on 52 minutes when Ogbeta drove at Pompey’s defence to fire a low shot past visitors keeper Craig MacGillivray — who up until that point could have been dropped off at nearby Telford to admire the Ironbridge Gorge, such was the lack of work he was required to undertake. 

On 68 minutes, as Shrewsbury pressed for an equaliser, Marquis launched a heavy challenge on Chapman, which while full-blooded did not seem to be reckless. It appeared that the outraged home reaction, more than anything, was crucial in prompting referee Benjamin Speedie to send the player off — with Cowley confirming afterwards he would consider appealing the straight red. 

However, from that moment, in a testing and testy finale, Cowley and his side stepped up to show character, workrate and tactical nous. 

For Portsmouth’s 10 men quite simply refused to buckle under the increased pressure, amplified when Wilbraham cleverly switched his men to a 4-3-3 formation in order to exploit the extra space. 

One of the benefits of a fluid 4-3-3 formation is that it can easily morph into a more defensive 4-5-1 line-up, in which the midfield is overloaded with players, increasing solidity to prevent opposition attacks. 

However, for a team on the offensive to be constantly pushed back to a deep lying 4-5-1 — as Shrewsbury were at times against Portsmouth’s 10 men — was quite remarkable. 

It was also testament to Cowley’s leadership qualities in energising his depleted side to generate such energy to be able to seal such a tactical triumph. 

The tension increased as the flourishing Shrews searched for an equaliser. “Win it back, win it back,” exhorted Cowley to his Portsmouth team on numerous occasions, his east London accent echoing through the cold Salop air. 

At one stage he even bellowed: “70 per cent possession.” A line that left many in the press box perplexed, including this correspondent, who was unsure whether he meant it as a boast, an admonishment or a target.

Cowley’s 10 men further regrouped during a “water break” — ironic considering the temperature was in the low single figures. Yet it was illuminating to watch the whole team form a huddle as Cowley and his brother and faithful lieutenant Nicky gave instructions. 

The message? A continuation of gegenpressing, as disciples of the influential German tactician Ralph Rangnick, including Jurgen Klopp, call it. 

The essence of the philosophy is that it is not enough that a team presses its opponents, but that they do so with particular focus and zeal when the ball is in the opposition territory — in effect, countering the counter-attack.

Or simply good old-fashioned hard work in closing down from the top, which is exactly what they did to see out the game, even with seven additional minutes added on at the end. 

No wonder a relieved Cowley said at the end: “Credit to Shrewsbury, in the second half they changed their system and went to a 4-3-3,” adding modestly despite the three points safely in his pocket — or perhaps because of it: “We don’t quite have the answers yet as a group to get control of that system.

“We’ve done a lot of work this week, we knew we were playing against a team that like to fill the middle and like to sit deep.

“We would have learnt a lot today. When you play against that 4-3-3 and three forwards, the full-backs have to run their wide players off and then you can get a 2v1 with the centre-half against their No 9. When you can do that, you can force them back to a 4-5-1 and get some territorial advantage.

“It’s no good us knowing that, the players have to know that — and that comes from time, rehearsal and practice. We have got to work towards that.” 

You can guarantee Cowley, ever the perfectionist, will make that happen. 

For was it not fitting that the highly rated boss continued his fledgling Portsmouth revolution in this part of the world where the mighty industrial revolution was once forged and subsequently flourished?