Town's reserves took on a young Bradford City side in the Pontin's League and in the end it was a comfortable win for the home side.

Town's goal came in the second half thanks to a superb strike from Jimmy Ryan but the score line could easily have been more had it not been for a string of excellent saves from City keeper Ben Saynor.

ShrewsWeb spoke to Town manager Gary Peters this morning to get his thoughts on the game: "It was a good win in the end but we should have won by a lot more in the end.

"We played quite well and passed the ball around well to create a lot of chances but were also nice and solid.

"Steve Leslie didn't start but there was no way he was left out, we had to make sure that all the players could get a game that haven't been playing over Christmas. Steve is fitter than most so we gave him just the half and he did well.

"We had Chris Humphrey playing as an overlapping full-back all the time, bombing on with Jimmy Ryan in front of him playing in all the time."

The highlight of the game was the second half strike from young Jimmy Ryan who was back in action after a short hamstring injury. Ryan picked the ball up some 30 yards from goal before unleashing a superb shot:"It was magic, an absolutely class goal and I can't remember us scoring a goal like that since I've been here.

"He's looked up from about 30 yards and then chipped the keeper for a great goal."

Jimmy Ryan is now a fully fledged Town player after his loan moves from Liverpool. A deal was agreed last year but Town had to wait until the transfer window opened before the paperwork could be completed: "He's been injured recently and only came back to training halfway through last week and did alright yesterday.

"It was good to have him back yesterday and he did well and we'll be looking to feed him in as soon as we can."

The 18 year old Liverpudlian has shown glimpses of what he is capable of in the reserves, Carling Cup, Johnstone Paints and the one League appearance at Chester City. After being with the Town squad for nearly all the season the next step is to get used to the rigours of the Coca Cola League 2: "Jimmy is young but he is our player now and it's nice to have him around the club.

"He's a passing player, he can pass the ball well and him and Hunty are the ones who get the ball and can spread it around.

"The next thing I hope is that he learns about our division quickly as he can and understands you don't get as much time on the ball as he's used to.

"He's shown what he can do against teams like Fulham and Colchester but he's still got a bit too do to show he can do it in our league.

"Jimmy certainly has the potential and we can now start to get him into the team and see if he can handle this division.

"There are lots of kids who have come from big clubs and they can play great in the reserves and in cup games against higher division sides but when they get into the league games they need to understand it's not the same.

"We've had the likes of Jay Denny and Steve Hogg who used to play great for the reserves or in cup games but in the league they found out it was a lot tighter and tougher."