Match report posted by Richard  (view the full thread on the forum )

The strong wind ensured that yesterday was a game of two halves - the first half belonging to an in-form Shrewsbury side, the second to the Town. Swindon made the wind advantage count more - and though they had to weather a storm from the Shrews in the final few minutes, they held on for a deserved victory.

Sturrock started the match with the same eleven that performed impressively at Lincoln last weekend - Corr, Peacock and Jutkiewicz all recovering from the knocks that had threatened to keep them out. With the wind against them in the first half, Town tried to play a similar type of football as the previous week - hitting the front men early, and trying to use the wind to spin the ball back in their favour. Though we got some joy early on, as the wind picked up, the balls forward got less and less accurate - and Shrewsbury began to take a grip on the game. Unfortunately, the Town players didn`t get wise to it - and rather than changing styles to keep the ball on the deck a little more, we persisted with the direct approach - and though we were keeping the Shrews out, they were certainly in the ascendancy.

It was a stroke of luck that handed Shrewsbury the lead, with five minutes remaining in the first half. Another Town clearance was blown back, leading to an attack for the Shrews - from which Asamoah`s flick deceived Ifil, and left Fortune-West clean through on goal. He slotted the ball past Smith and into the net, in front of the Town End, where he had clashed with Smith earlier in the game.

Just minutes later, Shrewsbury could have extended their lead, when a long wind-assisted ball forward was chased by Asamoah, who lobbed the ball over the outrushing Phil Smith. Luckily for Town, the ball bounced on the roof of the net - 2-0 would have been an unfair reflection on the game, as it was, it was touch and go as to whether the Shrews deserved their lead. With Shrewsbury now seemingly happy to sit back, the result would depend on how the Town could use the wind in the second half. Inexplicably, the boo boys booed at half time. Ridiculous. I was still pretty confident that we would turn it around - confidence has been an unusual feeling for me this season!

The Town came out fired up for the second half, and the atmosphere took a turn for the better. Ifil blazed over from ten yards from a Town corner, Nicholas shot wide. If we could get an early goal, then there was every chance we could win the game. My dad commented that if we could score by half-past four, we`d win it.

Strangely, the Shrewsbury boss made a double substitution just past the hour mark, taking off both his front men - Asamoah in particular had caused problems at the back, winning headers with great leaps despite his size, and Fortune-West been awkward, plus of course had scored the goal. Within minutes, Swindon had equalised - a corner from Roberts causing a goalmouth scramble - and with the Shrews unable to clear, Barry Corr netted his second in two games since signing on loan from Sheffield Wednesday.

The Town kept coming forward - and six minutes after their first, they took the lead. Zaaboub crossed, Corr headed on to find Roberts at the back post, who headed past the keeper. The lead was no more than the Town deserved - but as is typical of Town, we then took the foot off the gas, and Shrewsbury threatened to come back.

A Shrewsbury midfielder was jeered for a wild cross - but the wind was still playing its part - blowing the ball back and under the crossbar - Smith judged well and punched over the bar. Going into the last few minutes, a Shrewsbury shot was saved by Smith, but he failed to keep the ball from going for a corner. As he held onto the ball, a couple of Shrews tried to get it off him, and ugly scenes ensued - everyone piled in, and with a lot of man-handling going on, it was a surprise that only two players were booked.

From the resulting corner, a header was looped at goal, and with Smith under pressure, he held onto