Raining goals and helicopters at the Military Match day 2023 at Shrewsbury Town Football Club.
Written by Simeon Bowen-Fanstone, Solicitor in the Family Team.
On 11th March 2023, I had the pleasure of attending the 8th annual Military Matchday at Shrewsbury Town Football Club. It made a welcome change from watching Wales perform dismally during this season’s Six Nations rugby union tournament. The less said about that, the better!
Crowds at this years’ Military Matchday were treated to the spectacle of astronaut Colonel Tim Peake delivering the matchday ball using a Juno helicopter from No. 1 Flying Training School at RAF Shawbury.
The Military Matchday is jointly organised by Shrewsbury Town in the Community, and the Armed Forces Covenant team, which Onions and Davies Solicitors are proud to be associated with. The aim of the matchday is to highlight the contribution of Armed Forces veterans, as well as showcasing the commitment of current members of the military.
Supporters and visitors were able to spend time in a Forces Fan Park pre-match, where they were able to learn more about the Armed Forces, military charities and enjoy exhibitions and competitions. Anyone who was anyone wanted to have their photo taken with Lenny the Lion! There was even the opportunity to have a photograph taken as if you were operating a machine gun, which proved very popular! Fortunately, there was no ammunition in sight!
As for the game itself, despite cold and wet conditions, Shrewsbury managed to secure a fifth home win a row with a deserved 3-1 triumph over the ‘Shrimps’ of Morecambe. Salop opened the scoring in the 32nd minute thanks to a penalty, converted by the captain Luke Leahy, after Morecambe handled in the box. The Shrews doubled their lead just before half-time with a goal from a corner by Rob Street.
To their credit, and perhaps due to the noisy urgings of their travelling band of nearly 200 fans, Morecambe were much more competitive in the second half, and they threatened a comeback after a nice curling strike by Daniel Crowley.
In the end, however, all hopes of a Morecambe revival were dashed when the Shrews scored their third goal from a powerful Chey Dunkley header. The majority of the strong 6,918 crowd went home happy, whilst those Shrimps fans faced a miserable long journey back up to the Lancashire coast.
It is at this point that I wish to issue a disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for Shrewsbury Town’s results since I attended the Morecambe game – the Shrews are now on a terrible run of six games without a win, having only picked up one point out of a possible eighteen during that period!
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