Match report by James Garrison

It was a case of friends reunited at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday – and it was players past rather than present who had the greater reason to celebrate.

David Artell, Stewart Drummond and one-time loanee Neil Wainwright all came back to their former club with Morecambe, while ex-Telford United defender Jim Bentley marked his return to Shropshire with a towering display.

And the quartet contributed to a goalless draw which was a more satisfying return for the now 12-match unbeaten visitors than Shrewsbury.

With results elsewhere largely going the way of Town, the weekend ended with the status quo largely retained in the log-jam at the top of League Two.

But, tellingly, another game has now passed without Shrewsbury making meaningful ground on the top three.

And it is looking increasingly likely that Town will now have to take the play-off route if they are to be celebrating promotion in two months time.

While reaching the top three positions remains a mathematical possibility, manager Paul Simpson and his squad will continue to believe an end-of-season charge is possible.

Frustration

But they will now have to show the type of consistency – six victories out of seven would probably be the requirement for automatic promotion – not seen in recent months to achieve their dream.

Saturday was to prove a real day of frustration for Simpson and his players.

Without going into their shell, Morecambe were never likely to chance their arm to turn one point into three during this largely mundane encounter.

And, on the day, Shrewsbury couldn’t produce the necessary guile and quality to match their undoubted endeavour to break down one of most organised defences Town have come up against in recent weeks.

Shrewsbury’s best moments were to come in the opening period.

Chris Humphrey made perfect contact with a soaring left foot shot from 25 yards, only to be a matter of a couple of inches the wrong side of the post, while Terry Dunfield couldn’t quite get the power in an edge-of-the-box shot to trouble Morecambe goalkeeper Barry Roche after a slick passing move.

Arguably Town’s best chance came on the stroke of half-time.

Grant Holt threatened to take advantage of rare uncertainty in the Morecambe defence, but could only fire straight at Roche as he elected to take his shot early from just outside the box.

Crispness

Shrewsbury’s tempo increased after the break, but all too often the quality and crispness in passing required to create clear chances was lacking.

It all meant the hosts were forced to rely on a couple of Ben Davies free-kicks for their chances while Morecambe were always lively going forward, without ever really troubling Luke Daniels.

As the desperation increased late on, so Shrewsbury had three calls for a penalty.

Adam Yates brought down Ben Davies in a tackle which required Shrewsbury’s former captain to have 10 stitches to his knee.

No foul was given by match referee Oliver Langford, although any contact appeared just outside the box.

There were more appeals for a spot-kick when Holt and Artell tussled in the closing stages, but arguably the most creditable shout came when Richard Walker found himself sandwiched between Artell and Bentley as the duo appeared to block his path to the ball.

Again, there was nothing doing with Langford and Shrewsbury’s last chance had gone on an afternoon where they didn’t do enough to break down Morecambe and seal what would have been a crucial victory.