Humbled by Histon in 2004, and now battered and bruised by Blyth.

In the distinguished history of Shrewsbury Town, the FA Cup has proved a staunch ally.

But suddenly first round weekend in the mother of all knockout competitions is becoming a feared and dreaded affair for all of blue-and-amber persuasion.

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For the second time in four years, Town suffered the embarrassment of crashing out to part-timers. A miserable result to cap a miserable display.

From the outset, it should be made clear that Shrewsbury now find themselves in a much healthier position on and off the pitch than they were at the time of that fateful afternoon at Histon.

Then they were a club in freefall, seemingly on a return to non-League oblivion.

Now they are a club with very real chance of progression up the English football ranks, displaying enough on numerous occasions this season to suggest they will be amongst the League Two promotion chasers come the end of the season.

But none of that will, for the time being at least, compensate for the bleakest of afternoons in the north-east, one which will be remembered in the annals of club history for all the wrong reasons.

So often, the FA Cup is a hostage to fortune – but not on this occasion. Blyth Spartans, a club languishing near the bottom of Blue Square North after six successive league defeats, thoroughly deserved their weekend basking in the glory of this shock.

Credit to Harry Dunn’s Blyth side, who rose to one of the club’s biggest occasions in years.

But, for all the praise the part-timers deserve, it is impossible to escape the fact Shrewsbury were architects of their own downfall in so many ways.

Paul Simpson described the defeat as one of the lowest points of his 26 years in football in a brutally and refreshingly honest post-match appraisal.

And he will be attempting to fathom how, in the space of a week, his team can follow up the stylish demolitions of Luton and Dagenham with this disjointed and limp display at Croft Park.

Defensively, Town could and should have prevented each of the goals they conceded.

And as an attacking unit, Grant Holt and Richard Walker were forced to feed off scraps as Shrewsbury’s midfield failed to regularly retain possession or offer a genuine threat in wide areas.

Those seeking reasons for this badly below-par display need look no further than the first 29 seconds, the time it took for a potentially awkward tie to be transformed into the most slippery of banana skins.

Town’s first assignment was a routine one, to deal with the type of defensive throw they encounter several times a game. They failed.

Two Blyth headers put the hosts on the front foot and when Robbie Dale picked out strike partner Shaun Reay, the accounting student calculated his finish to perfection.

The early initiative Shrewsbury had been desperate to claim was handed to Blyth on a plate, and the visitors never recovered.

Their only real opportunity of the first half came in the first half when Holt closed in on goal, only to be denied by home goalkeeper Mark Bell.

But at the other end, it was to get much worse. Steve Leslie’s slack pass to Graham Coughlan on 28 minutes put unnecessary pressure on Town and Reay was again on hand to capitalise, drilling past Garner from 18 yards.

Still Shrewsbury had time on their side, yet still they made mistakes and their hopes were effectively buried six minutes after the interval with a third Blyth goal.

Garner ventured into no-man’s land to leave his goal unguarded and Ben Herd, Coughlan and Holt all failed to deal with the subsequent right wing cross as the ball rebounded in off Andrew Leeson.

As the clock ticked down, Town finally applied some concerted pressure.

Simpson rang the changes with both personnel and formation, reverting to a 3-4-3 shape, and Holt pulled one back with a header from a Paul Murray free-kick with 22 minutes remaining.

That briefly raised hopes that the visitors could yet salvage something. Holt had what appeared a reasonable penalty shout turned down, Coughlan and Murray were both denied by Bell while David Hunt and Kevin McIntyre each went close.

But the damage had already been done and Town’s suffering supporters had the biggest single disappointment of this season – and many other – to digest as they prepared for the second half of a near 500-mile round trip.

By James Garrison