Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you are making the most of it under such difficult circumstances. As usual we will take a look at the results, and give you the lowdown on what’s going on, who’s scoring the goals, whose ripping up tress and who’s laid up in bed on lockdown.
There is also a midweek fixture to catch up on, so we have included that and will deal with it first.
DONCASTER 0 SHREWSBURY 1
Up until the start of the month the Shrews had only won one game and were really struggling, but three wins on the spin including this surprise away win at Donny lifts them out of the bottom four. Doncasterlona were themselves one of the form teams going into this match up, recording four straight wins so must have fancied themselves to stretch things for one more game and also go top of the table, but the Salop lads had other ideas. An Aaron Pierre header in the second half was the deciding factor and despite Rovers bombarding the Shrewsbury defence looking for an equaliser it held firm.
The following five Boxing Day fixtures were all called off with Covid detected in one or both camps, and its worrying as Covid has really taken a grip of League 1 teams in recent weeks, and with a couple of our players sick, and one told to self-isolate you wonder if we could be next.
Gillingham v Peterborough, Portsmouth v Swindon Town, Sunderland v Hull City, Blackpool v Rochdale, and Doncaster v Accrington.
CHARLTON 2 PLYMOUTH 2
Charlton had the bulk of the ball, and probably thought it was a case of just turning up, but Argyle are made of sterner stuff these days and Athletic found it hard going. In form Luke Jephcott got the Pilgrims off to a quick start with a 6th minute goal and it took Charlton until 15 mins before the break to restore parity with Chris Gunter. They probably thought it was just a case of time, and it was because Jephcott struck again to give Plymouth and unlikely lead. With 20 mins left on the clock Marcus Maddison equalised and despite looking for the winner the Plymouth defence held firm and Charlton will rue the missed opportunity to cement their top 6 position.
CREWE 1 FLEETWOOD 1
Crewe extended their unbeaten run to six games when Mikael Mandron scored his 9th goal of the season to restore parity after Fleetwood had taken the lead through Wes Burns following a comedy moment in the Crewe defence. Omar Beckles attempted to shepherd the ball back to Crewe keeper Will Jaaskelainen and Burns not standing on ceremony nipped in between the dithering pair to scoop the ball home.
LINCOLN 5 BURTON ALBION 1
Lincoln ripped Burton to bits with a dominating performance in a game that was done and dusted before ten minutes was on the clock, and it was not going to be a case of if they won but by how many. Remy Howarth had an easy tap in as the Imps beat the Albion offside trap after just 4 minutes, and then doubled that lead just three minutes later, Brennan Johnson forcing the ball into the net following a goal mouth scramble in the panic-stricken Burton defence. Ant Scully made it three early in the second half after the Burton stopper fumbled, and three became four shortly after when Johnson seized on some sloppy playing out from the back. Strangely the Imps defence returned the favour when keeper Palmer and the defence did an “after you” routine and Kane Hemmings nipped into score. Normal service was however soon resumed when a big deflection on Harry Anderson’s shot somehow looped over the Burton keeper to compound their miserable day. The win puts Lincoln three points clear on top and leaves Burton rooted to the bottom spot.
OXFORD 2 AFCW 0
I’m sure all Dons fans will congratulate Robbo and Oxford for putting the icing on the cake of our Boxing Day victory over Bristol Rovers by beating AFC 2-0 despite the pretenders having 16 shots with 8 on target, meaning Oxford leapfrog AFC pushing them down to 18th with no win in 5 games, and Oxford climbing to 15th, unbeaten in five. Jordan Obita got Oxford off to a great start after just 13 minutes with his debut goal with a left footed drive past the stricken AFC keeper. Less than ten minutes later the O’s doubled their lead with a training ground move, Matty Taylor scoring a stunning volley over Trueman and into the net. In the second half AFC dominated but Stevens in the Oxford goal pulled off a number of top saves to give them the points.
WIGAN 1 SHREWSBURY 1
This pairing produced a game of poor quality and extraordinarily little goal mouth action until 35 seconds into the second half when Pearce was tripped in the box and Will Keane smashed in the resulting penalty for Wigan. The Shrews though responded well and got a deserved equaliser just after an hour played, Shaun Whalley firing home from 12 yards.
