A fellow Brentford fan – of a certain age – once claimed Shrewsbury was an untapped venue for hen parties and recommended any single man to hot foot it to Shropshire.

You might not think it is the most glamourous destination for the girls to let off steam ahead of their big day, but apparently it is.

The mere mention of this fact will raise a few laughs., In the same way, the mere mention of Shrewsbury Town and football in the same breath can trigger a few sniggers.

Much like footballing outposts Scunthorpe United, Rochdale, Accrington Stanley and Mansfield Town, they just sound like places where fans of the beautiful game would be let down by the quality on show.

The League One Shrews are enjoying a renaissance at present to the extent the Bees moved to capture their best player – Ryan ‘the ginger Pirlo’ Woods – before the summer transfer window closed.

Ask a Town fan about him and they’ll tell you he can play.

Woods, turned down advances from Aston Villa and Birmingham City as a schoolboy to join first Walsall and then – after his release as a 15-year-old – Shrewsbury Town.

And he’ll tell you moving there was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Pose the same question to former Bees striker Nathan Elder, who traded Griffin Park for the Shrews in 2009, and he might give you a different answer.

In two seasons at the club he made just 22 appearances and scored just two goals before drifting into non-League football.

Elder is still playing – for Tonbridge Angels – but another man who followed a similar path to west London as Woods, is not.

Twickenham Cricket Club secretary, Shrews super fan and student of the ‘leave alone’ shot Dan Hough called time on a 25-year Saturday league cricket career on the Green last week. Congratulations on a good innings.