Shrewsbury Town suffered their 1,000th Football League defeat at Victoria Road last night.

And few of the reverses would have been as emphatic and convincing as a truly humbling night against Dagenham & Redbridge.

For the second time in a little over five years, Town found themselves on the end of a 5-0 hammering in this corner of Essex.

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And in no way is that a scoreline which flattered the hosts, who clinically exacted revenge for Shrewsbury’s dramatic final day victory last term which enabled Paul Simpson’s side to snatch a play-off place from the Daggers.

Credit to John Still’s men who were at their vintage attacking best and were an unstoppable force in the first-half in particular.

But Shrewsbury will today have plenty on which to reflect as they look to rebuild after this damaging 90 minutes washed away much of the early feel-good factor garnered from three encouraging displays.

This was a night when simply nothing went right.

Town’s defence looked as vulnerable as it had done in recent memory and their midfield was simply over-run, leaving strikers to feed off scraps all evening.

It was written in the footballing stars that Paul Benson – the man who turned down the chance to join Shrewsbury less than a month ago – would have a major impact.

But not even one of the most prolific finishers in League Two could have imagined a night where he would score four times.

Just as Simpson didn’t go overboard with the plaudits in the opening week, so he will not lose his head in the wake of this significant setback.

But the Town boss must now lift a set of players who looked understandably shell-shocked at the full-time whistle.

“It was a very hard night,” admitted Town midfielder Shane Cansdell-Sherriff.

“It’s heartbreaking. The lead-up to the game was fantastic and to come away with that result has left me dumb-founded.

“The only half thing that we can take away is that we never gave up and did our best to stop the score getting away from what it was.

“But we need to look at ourselves and see what went wrong and try and get things right for the weekend.”

Ironically, Town began brightly enough with Joss Labadie going close with a free-kick from distance.

But from the time Benson gave the hosts the lead with a 21st-minute opener – looping home a header from a Peter Gain cross – Dagenham had momentum they never looked like losing.

Town’s first half went from bad to worse as three goals followed in the subsequent 18 minutes, crosses all too easily being centred from wide areas and strikers too often getting ahead of defenders.

Benson doubled his and Dagenham’s tally by sliding home to apply the finishing touch to a Josh Scott shot which was squirming off target, before Scott Griffths thundered a shot into the bottom corner from the angle of  the box.

Benson then rose to nod home a cross from the dangerous Danny Green as Dagenham were again afforded the space to produce an inch-perfect cross, and Shrewsbury’s first half misery was complete.

Indeed, it could have been worse with Chris Neal making a fine save from Scott on the stroke of the interval.

A double change at half-time saw Graham Coughlan and Nathan Elder replaced by Omer Riza – who was to last just 10 minutes before being struck by injury – and Steve Leslie.

That at least gave Town some impetus with Dave Hibbert and Kelvin Langmead going close from Leslie centres.

But, fittingly, it was Benson who had the final word when he nodded home a Gain cross with Town’s defence again floundering badly on 70 minutes.

The last time Town were beaten by Dagenham 5-0 – in the Conference – Jimmy Quinn’s team went on to get promoted.They can afford few more nights like this if there is to be any chance of a repeat.