Shrewsbury Town’s season is fast becoming one long frustrating tale of missed opportunities.

And just how much that is going to cost them will become clear at the campaign’s conclusion in a little under one month’s time.

Once again the weekend served up a dream sequence of results from around the country as Exeter were the only victorious team in the entire top 10.

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Yet Shrewsbury again failed to fully capitalise on that welcome helping hand, managing just a point from the visit of a Grimsby side still sweating over their future as a Football League club.

In fairness to the Mariners, their performance belied a side sitting just three places off the League Two basement.

But still a draw – which was just about a fair result on the balance of play – was not enough for Paul Simpson and his side.

Town today remain on their longest unbeaten run of the season, a sequence which now stretches to seven games.

But that is undermined by the fact that six of those have produced just a single point, including all of the last five.

Despite that, and the lengthy winless streak on the road, Town still have it all to play for.

Only the most optimistic Shrewsbury fans will still believe that automatic promotion is a possibility for their team, although there is room to believe that maximum points from the remaining five games would still be enough to gatecrash the top three. Providing comfort is the fact that Town remain in the play-off positions.

But that should not be taken for granted, with the likes of Bradford, Chesterfield and Dagenham breathing down their necks.

Yes, Shrewsbury must start taking care of their own business or run the risk of results elsewhere finally turning against them and making their position vulnerable.

The frustration for Simpson on Saturday was borne out of a failure to turn early supremacy into goals.

Town made a decent enough start, producing their best spell of the game in the opening 20 minutes.

But presentable opportunities came and went as David Worrall fired straight at Grimsby goalkeeper Wayne Henderson from close range and Ben Davies blazed the rebound over.

And Chris Humphrey would have been disappointed to be pushed wide and shoot over when breaking clear, when he would have been better advised to either lob or round the keeper after Henderson had advanced into nomansland.

But Shrewsbury’s early promise was gradually replaced by a more subdued showing from the hosts as they struggled to replicate the quality produced at Wycombe seven days previous.

The result was that Grimsby grew into the game, Nick Hegarty forcing a good save from Luke Daniels while two reasonable shouts from the visitors for a penalty were turned down by referee Jarnail Singh.

No huge surprise, then, when Grimsby broke the deadlock on 55 minutes during a spell of real defensive uncertainty from Town.

A fumble by Daniels created momentary panic in the Shrewsbury backline and Graham Coughlan was forced to head a lob from James Hunt off the line.

But the danger remained and Peter Sweeney’s cross-cum-shot was prodded home by the impressive Barry Conlon.

Crucially, Town’s equaliser was to take just four minutes to arrive when a cross from substitute Steve Leslie dropped invitingly for Ben Davies who squeezed the ball home from a tight angle.

Both teams pushed for victory as the play became increasingly stretched during the closing stages.

Humphrey shot wide of the target from the edge of the box on two occasions, while Moses Ashikodi took too long over a chance inside the penalty area.

At the other end, Coughlan and Neil Ashton were forced to combine to turn another Conlon shot off the line, while Sweeney and Chris Llewellyn also flashed shots just off target.

But the winner both sides badly craved was to prove elusive.

By James Garrison