What Shrewsbury fans think of Rangers loanee Greg Docherty

Greg Docherty has impressed on loan at Shrewsbury. Picture: SNS/Ross Parker

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It’s safe to say Shrews fans were impressed with Greg Docherty right from the start. After moving from Rangers, the midfielder started in a 2-1 defeat away to Charlton Athletic, with the hosts netting a winner in stoppage time. Despite the disappointment, Docherty was singled out for praise. “A box to box type, won many tackles and looked like a very good player,” wrote one fan.

This continued into the following midweek despite another negative result, this time losing to Burton which saw elimination from the EFL Cup. Forum user crocidura wrote: “Docherty is a player, he’s got more than enough for this division and when he finds his feet he could be devastating, he made a couple of daft moves too but great potential.”

While he’s found his scoring touch now, netting six in his last 15 games from midfield, there were initial concerns about his shooting prowess after passing up some decent opportunities in his first five games. After a 0-0 draw with Blackpool, zenfootball2 said: “Docherty looks tricky and has a good football brain he produced some nice link up play, the only weakness was his shooting he had a number of chances to shoot but choose to pass and in the main his shoots were powder puff efforts.”

His duck was broken after coming off the bench to score against Portsmouth in a 1-1 draw. The 22-year-old had only been on the park a matter of seconds when he found the back of the net. Though he would net again the following match, a 2-0 win over Southend, it was around the September period where a little bit of criticism came the midfielder’s way. Although, considering Shrewsbury’s struggles - they won only once in their first 11 matches - the assessments were hardly scathing. “Docherty has (in the last 2 games) been a goal threat but offers very little else when these games are tight,” offered user wayahead.

It was at this point that under-pressure boss John Askey started to experiment with his squad a little as he searched for the perfect formula to stop the rot. Docherty was dropped to the bench on a couple of occasions and fans were largely perplexed by the omission. “Docherty is way too good to be on the bench,” said one supporter after a defeat to Fleetwood.

Since then it’s been nothing but praise for the Rangers loanee. After a 3-1 win over Barnsley in which he scored, fan gtismygod said: “[Askey] pulled off a masterstroke in bringing in Docherty on loan who I believe is the best player in the squad and could comfortably be playing Championship football this season.”

Even after the sacking of Askey in mid-November, Docherty has continued to produce the goods, netting twice in the last three games, both victories, as the Blues move closer to mid-table. Following the 2-0 victory over Plymouth in the last match, stuttgartershrew gushed: “Docherty was superb, up and down all night and really causing them and awful lot of problems. Seems to have really come on these last few games and looks bang up for it now. How long he’ll be with us though is the problem, do hope we can keep him.”

Though there can be no higher praise than that delivered by @TheMachoPeas on Twitter, who wrote: “I am 3 or 4 months older than Greg Docherty and yet here I am wishing that he was my dad, incredible.”