Town’s form has taken a turn for the worst  with a  second successive league defeat, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.

With a slightly changed team Town must be very disappointed to have lost 2-1 to bottom placed and winless Darlington.

Despite taking an early lead, Town did not push on in the game. Instead they made too many unforced errors which cost them three points.

It is difficult to be too critical of the team after they were forced to do without the suspended captain Coughlan and injured Hibbert, while Robinson, who had a great chance to put the game to bed and make it 2-0, was forced off through injury.

Fingers crossed Robinson’s injury isn’t too serious because the way Bright and Elder are performing at the moment, we look short upfront.

With injuries to Hibbert and Robinson, the game presented a perfect opportunity for the two strikers to stake a claim, but instead they failed to impress once again.

I was delighted to hear this week that Paul Simpson had agreed a 12 month contract extension, meaning he ‘should be’ at the club until at least 2012 — unless something goes disastrously wrong with our form.

The general feeling amongst fans is that he has done a decent job in his time at the club. He took over with the club in a bit of a mess with poor players tied to long contracts and he was never going to transform us overnight.

He has slowly moulded the side that he wants and he has been productive in the transfer market, despite the departures of Davies and Holt, which were beyond his control.

After narrowly missing out on promotion last season, Town at the moment are looking good for a promotion push in this year’s campaign.

However, serious questions will be asked if we fail again this year, with one of them being — how long can you give a manager to get an ambitious club like Town promoted?

What do fans think of Simpson’s contract extension?

And a quick word on Kelvin Langmead who is Town’s longest serving player with nearly 200 league games under his belt.

His playing is impressive in itself, especially as he had a chance to move on at the end of last season, but what’s even more impressive about Langmead is how he has been transformed from a decent striker into a fantastic and reliable centre half.

I bet other teams wish they had a player like Langmead at their club, but unfortunately for them they are in short supply.

Next up for Town in the league are two very tough games, which will give us a good indication on how Town compare with the league’s other strong teams.

First it is a home game with Aldershot who have surprised many this season with their form, particularly at home.

After that it’s the game I have been looking forward to the most – a trip to money-bags Notts County who everyone seems to want to do over.

They haven’t done as well as everyone would have expected so far, but they still pose a big threat, especially upfront.