Shrewsbury Town 0-0 Bristol Rovers
Sky Bet League One, The Croud Meadow, Tuesday 4 March 2025
Bristol Rovers were held to a competitive but ultimately goalless draw away to Shrewsbury Town.
Both sides enjoyed chances as Jack Hunt and Promise Omochere saw big opportunities for Rovers cleared off the line, while Callum Stewart hit the post for the hosts.
Despite the visitors shading the outing on balance, Rovers were held to a first goalless league fixture since mid-November, ending a run of three consecutive defeats with a point on the road.
The Gas made two changes to the side that were beaten against Rotherham at the start of March, with a switch to a three-man backline seeing Clinton Mola and Connor Taylor returning to the side in place of Lino Sousa and Scott Sinclair.
Given both sides’ respective league positions, a tentative start was perhaps not too surprising with the first chance of note coming midway through the first half; Funso Ojo’s looping header forcing Jed Ward into a reactive save.
From the resulting corner, Mel Benning fired a low effort at the near post, one that was again comfortably kept out by Ward.
The best chance of the half went to Rovers when Ruel Sotiriou’s pressure led to an effort on goal from Hunt. The charging right-back curled a strike on his left foot, one that looked destined for the net only to be cleared away on the line by former Rovers man Luca Hoole.
Isaac Hutchinson fired a shot wide from distance before Shrewsbury’s David Wheeler saw a one-on-one chance denied again by goalkeeper Ward in a combative first half which ended goalless.
Iñigo Calderón introduced Promise Omochere at half-time, with the striker entering the fray for Grant Ward, and the No9 made an immediate impact, leading the line and almost finding himself in a goalscoring position on 52 minutes.
Omochere went close again on 55 minutes with a diving header but, again, Shrewsbury cleared off the line with Ojo in the right place for the hosts.
Rovers continued to be the better side as the second half progressed. Again Omochere was involved, this time setting Martin, who fired an effort straight at Jamal Blackman.
A trio of substitutions looked to turn the tide in Shrewsbury’s favour though with substitute Stewart going close to opening the scoring within a minute of coming on. Good work again from Hoole led to a fine pass to Stewart, who saw his first-time effort bobble across the face of goal and bounce back off the base of the far post.
As the closing ten minutes ticked away, Chris Martin saw a narrow header blocked away following a Hutchinson corner, before Shipley had a curling free-kick claimed by Ward in the dying embers of extra time.
A last punt of the ball forward for the Gas yielded no outcome, seeing the trip to The Cloud Meadow end in stalemate.
Shrewsbury Town: Blackman, Hoole, Benning, M. Feeney ©, J. Feeney, Wheeler (Stewart 75), Lloyd (Oliver 75), Ojo (Gilliead 58), Perry (Biggins 58), Gape (Shipley 75), Nurse
Subs not used: Young (GK), Nsiala,
Booked: Stewart, Biggins
Bristol Rovers: J. Ward, Wilson ©, Mola (Sousa 81), G. Ward (Omochere 46), Sotiriou, Taylor, Martin, Hutchinson, Swinkels (Moore 81), Butcher, Hunt (Senior 81)
Subs not used: Hall (GK), Sinclair, Shaw
Booked: Sotiriou, Martin
Referee: Simon Mather
Attendance: 5,257
