Match report by James Garrison

Amidst the first genuine icy blast of the British winter, a warm glow of satisfaction for Shrewsbury Town.

Their record of just one away League victory in the last 11 months may not have been improved in the arctic temperatures of Lincoln.

See our Shrewsbury Town match photo gallery here

But if the evaporation of a two-goal lead in last week’s draw at Chesterfield felt like two points frittered away, Saturday most certainly felt like one gained.

Facing a numerical disadvantage for 87 minutes following the controversial dismissal of Richard Walker, Town dug deep into their reserves of tenacity and desire to ensure they left Lincoln with something to show for their efforts.

Deserved it was too because, other than the final 20 minutes when their defending became a little fraught, Town got through the afternoon with the minimum of fuss.

And what’s more, they also created a handful of opportunities to ensure the idea of leaving Sincil Bank with all three points wasn’t entirely fanciful.

That would have been a monumental effort from Paul Simpson’s side who were forced to battle through almost the entire afternoon with one man short.

For there was only three minutes on the clock when Shrewsbury’s week of planning was left in disarray by Walker’s dismissal.

No doubt, Town’s officials will have spent the weekend studying the video evidence as they consider the validity in launching an appeal.

Such was the immediacy of his decision, referee Graham Scott clearly had no doubts at the time that Walker had raised his elbow to defender Daniel Hone as the pair chased for the ball just inside the Lincoln half.

But, at first glance at least, it was difficult to draw the same conclusion from the stand.

From that vantage point it appeared Walker had simply placed his arm across the body of his rival in an attempt to break clear from the close attention he was receiving.

Mountain to climb

It looked nothing more than an accidental flailing arm which caught the defender, a viewpoint given more credence when the character of the mild-mannered and affable Walker is taken into account, this being only his third red card in more than 350 professional appearances.

Either way, the decision left Town with a mountain to climb – but how they responded.

Defensively, Shrewsbury were excellent as they showed character in abundance to secure a first away League clean sheet since August.

Graham Coughlan and Darren Moss both excelled on their return to the starting line-up, Kelvin Langmead could have done little more in his pursuit of regular first-team football while Marc Tierney returned to the peak of his powers.

That restricted Lincoln to long-range efforts from Stefan Oakes and Lee Frecklington for the much part which were either dealt with by Michael Gilks or were off target.

And a word about Gilks. In his first League outing since May 2007, the on-loan Blackpool goalkeeper made up for lost time with an excellent debut.

Almost without exception, his handling was excellent while he installed a genuine confidence and belief in his defence.

And when Lincoln finally managed to exert sustained pressure in the closing 20 minutes, Gilks was more than up to the task, saving impressively from Scott Kerr and Ben Wright.

Shrewsbury, then, deserved their point and it could even have been more after posing a real attacking threat on the break in the first hour.

Most of that centered around Grant Holt and Chris Humphrey who combined to good effect on the counter-attack, and the two best chances in open play were to fall to the winger.

He forced Rob Burch into a fine reflex save with a shot from a tight angle in the first period while, shortly after the break, a left-foot goalbound shot was deflected wide off Scott Kerr.

There were to be other threats too, as Graham Coughlan headed just over from a corner from Kevin McIntyre, while the midfielder’s free-kick moments later was almost put through his own net by the uncertain Janos Kovacs, only for Burch to save his team-mate’s blushes with a fine stop.

Town’s threat subsided in the closing 20 minutes as it became all hands to the defensive pump.

But the visitors were more than worth their gritty point and while they may have dropped two positions in a tightly-packed table, their confidence levels are likely to have gone in the other direction.