For Shrewsbury Town, a hugely disappointing afternoon. For the match officials, a grossly embarrassing one.

The five match unbeaten run which had propelled Town up the table came to a halt in a fiercely competitive and feisty local derby.

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It was a day when Shrewsbury didn’t do themselves justice, but a bewildering – and at times inexplicably poor – display by referee Steve Bratt also left a sour taste in the mouth.

This wasn’t an easy game to handle, but the West Midlands whistle-blower proved his own worst enemy with a string of mystifying decisions which brought controversy and ultimately farce.

Bratt – who had cautioned 15 players and dismissed another in his previous two outings – continued to sprinkle cards like confetti.

Indeed, even he lost track of the card count as he showed a red card to Dean Holden for what he assumed was a second caution in injury time – only for the referee to realise the full-back had received a single booking.

Mid-pitch tussle

That decision was reversed but the game’s other major talking point remained unaltered when, in the 55th minute, Graham Coughlan was given his second yellow card and his first red in blue-and-amber.

There were few complaints for his first caution following a mid-pitch tussle with Marc Richards as the pair jostled for the ball.

But there were raised eyebrows galore when Coughlan was sentenced to an early bath for a harsh handball on a Jason Jarrett through ball.

There was little doubt the ball struck Coughlan’s arm, but an intentional and deliberate act it most certainly wasn’t.

Town boss Paul Simpson said: “Graham said it hit his arm but he didn’t lift his arm.

“I can’t understand how the ref thinks it’s a deliberate handball.

“I think he obviously got carried away with the day.

“We don’t want to see players yellow carded and sent off.

“I’m presuming Micky Adams (Vale manager) made substitutions at half-time so his players who were booked didn’t get sent off.

“You shouldn’t have to do that in a game of football. We want to see players picked on merit going out and performing and unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”

While this was a display packed with endeavour from Shrewsbury, it was one lacking in the quality which has sent them on their recent unbeaten run.

Shrewsbury were on the back foot for much of the opening period as Vale deservedly went into the interval with the advantage courtesy of a 45th minute header from John McCombe.

And while Town rallied in the wake of Coughlan’s dismissal, they didn’t do enough to earn a share of the spoils.

The Vale winner also provided reason to frustrate Shrewsbury, coming at the worst possible time on the stroke of half-time and after a failure to clear a Tommy Fraser corner.

Signs of a visitors’ goal had been on the horizons with Steve Phillips saving well from a Kris Taylor header and a shot from distance from Anthony Griffith as Vale controlled the majority of the opening period.

Two half chances from Dave Hibbert were the sum total of Shrewsbury’s goalbound efforts in that first half before Coughlan’s controversial dismissal proved something of a catalyst for the hosts.

Clearance

Brief flurries of pressure followed, with the again excellent Paul Murray guiding two well struck efforts on target, one of which required a goalline clearance from Kris Taylor.

But Vale remained a more serious threat at the other end and they almost grabbed a second when the ever-dangerous Haldane flashed a shot from the angle of the box inches wide.

A series of other shots required desperate blocks from Town defenders and, while the 10 men of Shrewsbury pushed to the end, they could have few complaints.