Shrewsbury media round up + Zat Knight

Before we look at what everyone is saying about us this morning, I just wanted to thank Chopper at Hammy End Chronicle who kindly gave us a link to his superb blog.

Right, on with the blog...Thankfully my prediction was totally wrong as we managed to ease past Shrewsbury into the next round of the Carling/Milk/League cup as Diomansy Kamara opened his account for the season. Considering the newspapers are full of the giant-killing acts of Luton and Blackpool, which saw Sunderland and Derby, respectively, crash out of the competition, this is one morning i don't care about our general lack of press coverage!

Reading the reports, it's clear that journos at the game were divided on the question of whether or not we were made to work for the victory. Phil Shaw, writing in the Telegraph, acknowledged that Fulham were the first visitors to win at New Meadow, Shrewsbury' £15 million stadium, but added they "were made to toil for nearly an hour before the £6 million summer signing from West Bromwich Albion broke the resistance of the under-strength League Two hosts".

Chris Moore in the Daily Mail agreed. The pacy Chris Humphrey troubled Fulham keeper Tony Warner in the second minute, he reported, before Jimmy Ryan twice came close to snatching a surprise lead for the home side. "First he almost embarrassed Warner from long range, then the keeper saved Ryan's 25-yard effort."

However, BBC.CO.UK saw it differently. The website reported that Carlos Bocanegra fired wired as the visitors "dominated the early stages".

The Daily Mirror agreed. While accepting Shrewsbury were not fazed by the fact that Fulham were 61 places above them in the league, the paper insisted "a giant killing rarely looked on the cards from the moment Kamara thumped an early header against the bar".

Now to Zatzinhio....The Independent and Football365 are both running prominent stories today about his likely departure for Aston Villa. The Indy's John Curtis says the defender was due to have a medical at Villa last night and, if there weren't any problems, would become Martin O'Neill's fourth signing of the summer at a cost of £3.5m.

The Football365 site quoted O'Neill saying he expected Knight to sign this morning (Wednesday) with just paperwork needing to be sorted out Fulham's end. "He is a Birmingham lad and I understand Villa is his club," he is reported as saying. "The deal is good for him and good for us."

I've got a feeling his departure won't be lamented by most fans. His flashes of brilliance - well, okay-ness anyway - were often overshadowed by his lapses, although there's no doubt that he became an easy target for people during the last couple of years when even his good performances weren't acknowledged.

I will post more on Zat (if) when the news is officially confirmed.