First game of April 2016 tour. I had flown in to Birmingham Airport the evening before and taken the first train to Shrewsbury. I arrived in Shrewsbury around 9 Friday evening. The morning produced my worst UK coffee ever at breakfast. However, apart from that breakfast was as English as you can get. I did some sight-seeing near the River Severn and had lunch in a café in the centre of Shrewsbury. In the afternoon I had a look at the site where Gay Meadow, the previous ground which closed in 2007, had been and then headed for the Prince of Wales to catch a bus to the ground. At the pub I bumped into a Swedish Shrewsbury supporter who had gone over from Gothenburg with a friend to watch the game. He tried to see Shrewsbury at least once per season. I bought a ticket for the bus, which left the pub at 2.15. 

I had a seat in the Bandera Stand for £20 from where I watched a game that reflected the teams' table positions. The Bantams were 4th and Shrews 20th before the game. I think I counted to 17 corners for Bradford against one. Despite that, it looked like Shrews could hold on to an unlikely point. Twenty minutes from time the travelman Jamie Proctor, who I had seen score during a rainy evening in Crawley 27 months earlier, broke the deadlock for Bradford. Some terrible goalkeeping saved the day for Shrews when Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro in the home team was allowed to head a ball into an empty goal from around the penalty spot six minutes from time. If the experienced Ben Williams, the goalkeeper, had stayed on his line it would have been an easy catch. 

The day after, I took the train to London to watch a Sunday game between Arsenal and Crystal Palace.