If the recruitment of two loanees was designed to inject life into a team flattened by three straight defeats and badly mis-firing performances, Saturday was mission accomplished for Shrewsbury Town.

The performances of Jamie Devitt and Waide Fairhurst were not solely responsible for this come-from-behind victory over the 10 men of Aldershot.

But the pair added a much-needed exuberance and energy to a team which had been rocked by events of the last fortnight.

Devitt may not have been quite as eye-catching as when giving Town all kinds of headaches for Darlington seven days earlier, but he still supplied excellent delivery from wide areas.

And Fairhurst earned his just reward for a hard-working display in which he was never afraid to work the channels with a goal and a hand in the other two.

The 20-year-old would, no doubt, have classed himself unfortunate not to be gracing one of English football’s most revered stadiums on Saturday with his parent club Doncaster at St James’s Park to take on Newcastle.

He has, after all, scored on both his Championship starts for Rovers this season.

But, on this evidence, Doncaster’s loss is Shrewsbury’s gain for the next month at least.

“Waide took his goal very well and his work-rate was excellent,” said manager Paul Simpson.

“Jamie was positive and gave us good delivery into the box.

“I think they will both get better but the big thing for me was that it was two new faces which gave us a bit of a spark and life to the side.”

Not that this was a straight-forward afternoon for Shrewsbury.

For, while they were deserved winners by the final whistle, they had been comfortably second best in the opening 30 minutes.

During that time, Louie Soares had given the visitors a third minute lead from 15 yards after Town’s defence were caught on the heels by a trickling ball into their box from the always dangerous Marvin Morgan.

And the visitors’ open, expansive style should have yielded a greater advantage as Shrewsbury’s defence looked incredibly rocky against pace, movement and a glut of midfield runners.

Paul Murray was forced into a last-ditch tackle to deny Anthony Straker as Town were carved open, while Scott Donnelly somehow fired wide when through one-on-one with Steve Phillips.

At the other end, Kelvin Langmead headed a Devitt free-kick onto the top of the bar before the game swung in Shrewsbury’s direction in a 15-minute spell before half-time.

Fairhurst grabbed the 31st minute equaliser with a classy edge-of-the-box finish after Kevin McIntyre had caught Donnelly in possession, before the game’s defining moment arrived moments late.

Only Aldershot defender David Winfield will be able to outline his thought process as he aimed a minor but deliberate headbutt at Lewis Neal.

Winfield was clearly agitated as to what he perceived – somewhat harshly – as a dive from Neal in an attempt to win a penalty.

But his moment of madness proved costly for his team who failed to truly recover the impetus after the red card which followed.

Credit then to Shrewsbury for remaining professional for the closing hour, aided by Neal’s 45th minute 20-yard free-kick which was destined for the top corner from the moment it left his boot following a foul on Fairhurst.

The second half proved more routine than the first for Town who largely controlled proceedings as the numerical disadvantage hit Aldershot’s attacking threat.

The hosts carried a significantly more solid look after the break and grabbed a deserved third through Nathan Elder on 61 minutes.

A simple tap-in it may have been, after good work from McIntyre and Fairhurst, but that will still represent a much-needed boost for the forward who has still yet to win over the majority of the Town faithful.

Town had chances to grab a fourth with Elder and Jake Robinson, making a rapid return to the bench from an ankle injury, both going close.

But the victory had already been assured – and how desperate Shrewsbury were for it.

By James Garrison