FA Cup 1st Round, 2nd Replay at Villa Park: Shrewsbury Town (4) – QPR (1)
Team: Brown, Poppitt, Ingham, Clayton, Spence, Smith, Mountford, Gilberg, Addinall,
Cameron, Shepherd.
Attendance: 3,799
On this day in 1952, the R’s lost 4-1 to Shrewsbury Town in a FA Cup 1st Round, second replay at Villa Park.
The first match had been drawn 2-2 at Loftus Road.
The replay at Gay Meadow was also drawn 2-2 after extra time so the second replay had to be played on
a neutral ground.
The match programme was a single sheet with a plain back and the game kicked off at 2pm on Monday
1st December. The venue, kick-off time and the weather conditions were all factors in reducing the attendance
to less than 4,000.
The R’s turned out in red shirts with white shorts and the following match report appeared in the Yorkshire Post
and Intelligencer the following day:
‘Gallant Shrewsbury who fought back from a 2-0 interval deficit in their first Cup meeting with Queen’s Park Rangers
at Shepherd’s Bush, ended their marathon tie by outplaying their rivals at the third attempt and so qualifying to
receive Chesterfield in the second round on Saturday.
Shrewsbury were always the livelier and more purposeful attackers on the soft layer of snow which carpeted the
Villa Park ground. Reagan, whether an outside left or on the right wing, was a constant threat to a slow moving
defence.
Goals by Brown, Jackson and Butler, from a penalty, gave Shrewsbury a commanding position in the first-half and
although Rangers improved in the second, their lack of steadiness and tendency to delay passes proved costly.
Fisher increased Shrewsbury’s lead before Smith scored Rangers’ consolation goal.’
As for our league campaign in Division Three (South), Rangers ended the season in 20th position, whilst Shrewsbury
finished second from bottom.
My thanks to Colin Woodley and Gordon Macey RIP) for their assistance