From the Archive | A Statement of Intent

The 2011/12 season is one that will live long in the memory of both Shrewsbury and Swindon fans, with both teams securing promotion to League One come the end of the season.  

The two sides had come into the campaign as pre-season favourites. Swindon had suffered relegation at the end of the previous year, but had rebuilt over the summer, with the appointment of former West Ham star Paolo Di Canio grabbing the headlines, while Graham Turner’s team were hoping to go one further than the previous season, where we had missed out on automatic promotion at the death and then lost in the play-offs.  

Despite our billing as pre-season favourites, neither team had set the world on fire in the opening four games. Salop had won one, drawn two, and lost one, while Swindon had won one and lost three.  

Di Canio’s team turned up to Shropshire in style, though, with future Premier League star Matt Ritchie getting them off the mark in the 25th minute, heading home from a Callum Kennedy cross.  

The Robins would continue to dominate in the first half, with Ben Smith doing an excellent job of keeping out efforts from Leon Clarke and Raffaele De Vita.  

His namesake in the Swindon goal, Phil Smith, wasn’t having as much luck, though. The Swindon stopper parried a Lionel Ainsworth effort into the path of Terry Gornell early into the second half, allowing him to head home to make it 1-1.  

Town would continue to up the pressure throughout the second half, and our persistence finally paid off with 19 minutes left on the clock. Lionel Ainsworth turned Paul Caddis on the edge of the area before placing a perfect cross onto the head of Marvin Morgan, who flicked the ball home from six yards.

The result would spark a strong run of form from both sides, with both teams going on to win four of their next five games.