Benjamin Van Den Broek of Shrewsbury Town takes a shot

An afternoon which began with an RAF Shawbury helicopter delivering the match ball surely ended with Shrewsbury Town’s automatic promotion hopes being grounded once and for all.

Indeed, the overwhelming priority for Paul Simpson and his squad as they prepare for the closing 10 games of the season will be to ensure the contingency plan of the play-offs doesn’t slip through their grasp.

They will have to do so on the back of a defeat to the leaders in which the gulf in class on the day was far wider in margin than the final 1-0 scoreline suggested.

Full credit to Rochdale, whose dominance over the remainder of the division has been such that the engraving of their name on the League Two trophy could begin now.

Shrewsbury have now twice been comprehensively outclassed by the table-toppers.

Rochdale have championship pedigree and, on Saturday, combined cleverness with precision to virtually monopolise meaningful possession and goal-scoring opportunities both before and after Shane Cansdell-Sherriff’s red card 16 minute from time.

In contrast, Town – who struggled to contain the movement of the slick visitors – were sadly lacking as an attacking force.

They weren’t aided by an injury to Dave Hibbert, denying them the chance to field the type of target man who could hold the ball up and relieve the pressure applied by Keith Hill’s hugely impressive visitors.

But their biggest downfall was an inability to retain possession, a problem which spread throughout the team and resulted in strikers Jamie Cureton and Jake Robinson having to feed off the scraps of a frustrating, ineffective afternoon.

“It was probably one of the toughest afternoons we have had,” said Town boss Paul Simpson.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favours. When you are playing against a side as good as Rochdale are, you have to be prepared to pass and keep the ball and we didn’t do that first half.

“We didn’t keep the ball, create anywhere near the amount of opportunities we wanted to and we got what we deserved out of the game.”

The warning signs were clear early on as Rochdale gained a grip on proceedings which they never threatened to relinquish.

Town’s only genuine first half opportunity was to come via a moment of individual inspiration from full debutant Benjamin van den Broek, the Dutchman cutting inside before unleashing a 25-yard left foot shot which forced Rochdale goalkeeper Frank Fielding into his only notable save.

No, it was to be Rochdale who were to set the tempo and they would have been scratching their heads as to how their domination had failed to produce the lead by the interval.

Twice in the opening period they were to hit the woodwork, through a cross from Tom Kennedy which eluded everybody and a 25-yard free-kick from the same player.

The visitors were to pass up other chances as well, Shrewsbury goalkeeper David Button preserving parity with fine saves from a Gary Jones effort from distance and a one-on-one chance for Chris Dagnall.

The second period continued in virtually identical fashion.

Cansdell-Sherriff went close to giving Town what would have been an against-the-run-of-play lead when he headed a Lewis Neal corner against the post.

But it was the visitors who continued to pose the questions and there was an inevitability about the Rochdale deadlock-breaker which arrived when a whipped in free-kick from Tom Kennedy was headed home by substitute Joe Thompson just 60 seconds after his 61st minute arrival.

Town’s hopes of a fightback appeared slim, and they were all but ended when Cansdell-Sherriff compounded his error of treading on the ball just inside his own half by tugging the shirt of Chris O’Grady as he prepared to burst clear.

Referee Andy D’Urso produced the only possible outcome, a red card, and Rochdale continued to pick their passes with the minimum of fuss.

Jones twice and Tom and Jason Kennedy could all have doubled the visitors’ advantage late on before Town mustered some late pressure.

But an equaliser never looked lively to leave Shrewsbury to contemplating back-to-back defeats and a position outside the play-offs for the first time in 2010.

By James Garrison