No second victory of the week for the Rossoneri. Shrewsbury Town’s away kit is identical to AC Milan’s, but the black-and-red ensemble did not bring them the same luck the Italians enjoyed in Athens.

They had a better first half than Milan did, but were 2-1 behind at the break and the Bristol Rovers defence, rocky in the opening period, was resolute in the second. A spectacular season for Bristol, then, with both Rovers and City promoted.

Ground improvements are on Rovers’ agenda; Shrewsbury at least have their move to a new 10,000-seat stadium next season to look forward to. And the club is on an upward curve despite today’s result; when Gary Peters became manager at Gay Meadow in November, 2005, the club was nearer to the Nationwide Conference than Coca-Cola League One.

This was a delectable appetiser for the League One and Championship play-offs finals to follow this weekend. A record League Two play-offs crowd of 61,589 – two-thirds from Bristol - proved that New Wembley can generate a massive decibel count, even with large swathes of support probably more interested to see the stadium than the match itself. Which was enthralling.

Shrewsbury had not scored against Rovers in three meetings this season but managed it after two minutes and forty-eight seconds today. A week earlier, Wembley had waited 116 minutes for Didier Drogba to find the net and win the FA Cup for Chelsea.

Stuart Drummond’s header was cancelled out fifteen minutes later by Richard Walker’s close-range equaliser. Then the sort of goal that Thierry Henry scores: racing on to a through ball down the left and coolly lobbing the onrushing goalkeeper from a narrow angle.

That was the twenty-third goal of the season for Walker, a 29-year-old journeyman striker. He is in the form of his life and so are his team, undefeated since April 1, when they lost to Doncaster Rovers in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final in Cardiff.

With two more games over the Bank Holiday weekend, one wonders what state the pitch will be in when David Beckham and friends face Brazil on Friday night.

Only light drizzle dripped from the grey skies yesterday but players kept slipping, as happened in the Conference play-off final and FA Cup Final the weekend before.

The second half was less eventful until the end, when Shrewsbury unravelled. Marc Tierney was sent off for receiving two yellow cards and in injury time, as Shrewsbury pressed for an equaliser, they conceded a third. Chris MacKenzie, the goalkeeper, had raced forward to attack a corner but it was cleared to Sammy Igoe, who ran from well inside his own half to slide the ball into the empty net.

Goodnight Shrewsbury – and the cue for a chorus of Goodnight Irene, the Rovers fan anthem. At this moment of triumph for such a long-suffering club, the song’s lyrics, “Sometimes I have a great notion / To jump in the river and drown” have never seemed less apt.

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