Today I'm going back 18 years to 9th August 2003 and the start of a new National League/Conference season for Shrewsbury Town versus Margate.
Gay Meadow. One of my all time favourite football grounds. I had first visited the Meadow in 1984 when I was doing my 92 Grounds. I wanted to go back and there was rumours of a move to a new location in the not too distant future so I selected this fixture for a revisit. I have waxed lyrical about Gay Meadow in a previous article (you can find it by going to my blog and searching on "Shrewsbury") so I'm not going to repeat all that here but let's just say that the revisit didn't disappoint me.
Shrewsbury were one season wonders in the Conference having been relegated out of the Football League in 2003. It's amusing that in so many cases, sides fall out of the Football League and assume that they're just going to waltz straight back up the following season. In most cases the standard of the League surprises them and they struggle but occasionally you get a side that actually does turn it all around within one season. This early season game surely showed Shrewsbury that they couldn't be complacent however as Margate, managed by Chris Kinnear, came to Gay Meadow and went home with a point.
The match finished 1-1 with Jimmy Quinn's Shrews taking the lead on 17 minutes through Steve Watts. The lead was to last until seven minutes from time when Margate's non-league striking stalwart Warren Patmore notched an equaliser
Despite this early season slip up, Shrewsbury went on to have a good season finishing in third place and qualifying for the Play-Offs which they duly went and won by the skin of their teeth on penalty shootouts beating Barnet in the Semi-Final and Aldershot in the Final held at Stoke City's ground. Margate finished the season respectably in 16th place but were nonetheless relegated into Conference South due to delays in their ground redevelopment plans.
CRB Match No. 1324
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