It's probably fair to say the stakes were far higher for Crawley as they welcomed Shrewsbury to the Broadfield Stadium for their penultimate home game of the League Two season, before hosting Salford City on the final day and probably needing all three points to beat the dreaded exit from the Football League (in the end a goalless draw was enough to avoid the drop).
Gavin Cowan had done enough in the few short months since replacing Michael Appleton at the helm of the Shrews, in late February this year, to keep them up and to be able to afford what was a relatively, on the beach” 0-0 draw. Their approach for the first half suggested the suitcases were packed before presumably a bit of a verbal rocket at half- time had them at least carving out a few chances in the second.
Their final-day trip to Gillingham for a reunion with former boss Gareth Ainsworth, following a relatively short stay, rubber stamped the unofficial “pressure's off, lads” call that comes with being anywhere above around twentieth in the league around that time in proceedings. Harrogate and Barrow were rightfully the sweatiest of the bunch given that they occupied the woodenest of wooden-spoon positions with two games to go, whilst Tranmere and Newport were not quite out of the, ahem, woods, either.
That Shrewsbury even found themselves in this position after a ten year stay in League One shouldn't perhaps be as big of a surprise as it may seem, not to diminish Cowan's achievement in pulling them back from the brink since compensation was agreed with Brackley for his services. Nineteen points from a possible twenty-seven was not a bad way to start having been given the opportunity to return to the club he served as a player from 2005-07, just the one goal from his twenty-four appearances in defence at what was formerly the Gay Meadow, now just New.
And he certainly ticked off a fair few points on the list of “right things to say” after accepting the managerial position!
"I'm a Shrewsbury Town fan and any supporter would give their right arm for this job. I've earned my stripes and am very positive about my capabilities at this level. I know what I'm getting into.”
Looking a lot further back to the early Noughties, following their return to the Football League after promotion from what was then the Conference in time for the 2004-05 season. They had bounced back at the first time of asking following relegation from old money Division Three, with top scorer Luke Rodgers integral, and they finished twenty-first on forty-nine points, albeit with just six league goals from Rodgers, enough to leave them a bit of waving room at those below.
Then, probably against all expectation, the Salop then snagged themselves a tenth place finish, Colin McMenamin's eleven goals in all competitions enough to help them over the line on sixty-one points, and ten more points in 2006-07 was enough to secure a play off position. However, they were unable to seize the initiative as they lost to Bristol Rovers in the League Two play-off final and they subsequently dropped into eighteenth the next season, though the hangover was only a campaign long and they were back in seventh by the end of 2008-09.
A drop to twelfth next time out heralded the beginning of an ultimately successful push for League One, with more consistency as fourth became second and League One beckoned. Though just the two seasons in the third tier followed, between 2012-13 and 13-14, sixteenth place respectable enough before 23rd meant the drop with 42 points, Jon Taylor's nine goals not enough to extend their stay.
A period of relative stability followed another promotion, 2014-15 being their last stay in League Two until this current season, as they ended on eighty-nine points to finish second and usher in more familiar nervous glances towards the bottom of the table in subsequent seasons. The next two saw 20th and 18th finishes, followed by a leap up to third, just missing out on the Championship and suffering narrow defeat to Rotherham in the 2017-18 League One play-off final, their closest flirtation yet with the second tier.
Again, though, having scaled such dizzy highs it was back to a relative low of fifteenth, enough at least to keep them up in relative comfort following another dip, which threatened to become a plummet as they dipped two places to seventeenth then went down to eighteenth. The 2022-23 campaign resulted in twelfth, representing the closest they'd get to a high point in the years immediately following their most recent trip to Wembley for the 2017-18 EFL Trophy final against Lincoln, under Paul Hurst, in one of his last acts before leaving for Ipswich.
Luke Leahy's twelve goals helped them to fifty-nine points, forty-eight came twelve months later and another twelve goals, this time from Daniel Udoh. ensuring another bout of squeaky bums across Shropshire- A hat-trick of twelve-goal top scorers, the latest courtesy of John Marquis last season (24-25), was not even enough to keep them up as they finished bottom on a miserable thirty-three points.
Having settled their latest matters on the pitch in by now customarily erratic fashion , the situation off it doesn't currently look a lot better. Chairman/owner Roland Wycherley has been looking to sell up since 2021, when he turned 80, having first stepped in during the mid-nineties. He is still seemingly seeking to enjoy some measure of retirement going by his open letter to the fans in September of last year. The sorry end of Hurst's second spell in charge was arguably the beginning of the latest near-collapse and return to non-league for the first time since that Conference title success.
Which possibly lends more weight to a telling end to Cowan's interview with Radio Shropshire after the 1-0 home win over Oldham ensured they'd be sticking around with considerably less sweat on their palms, a luxury recent history suggests they've had less often than not!
"Moving forward now, we need to make sure we change the rhetoric that's been within the club. It's going to be a big job for me in the summer, but the mentality today was just purely being connected, which I was quite vocal about when I first came into the job."
And the man who appointed him is likely equal in agreement with the need for change and new investment, not to mention a degree of consistency to combat an almost staggering degree of altitude sickness whether looking up or down.