Jake Robinson of Shrewsbury Town is tackled by Paul Arnison of Darlington

Humiliation has been an unwelcome bedfellow for Shrewsbury Town on more than one occasion this season.

And the stench of an embarrassing defeat hung heavily over the Prostar Stadium on Saturday.

The most damning feature of a wholly miserable afternoon was that Darlington, a side hopelessly out of their depth in League Two this season, were full value for their 2-0 victory.

Shrewsbury have enjoyed their share of highs during this campaign, not least the encouraging form of January and February which has now disappeared off the radar when Paul Simpson and his side needed it most.

But there have also been inescapable lows, and this result will now sit alongside the away defeat to Darlington, the 3-0 reverse to a Grimsby side who were winless in 25 and THAT FA Cup upset to Staines.

Just where do Shrewsbury go from here after an unacceptable defeat to a side which has won just five times this season, accumulated only 19 points and, even despite this spirited showing, have entered their final six weeks as a Football League club?

The statistics show that Town aren’t the only team to have been humbled twice by Darlington this season.

Rotherham have also fallen into the same boat but the Millers have recovered to become racing certainties for the play-offs and potentials for automatic promotion.

In contrast Shrewsbury lie 11th, five points adrift of the play-offs and some way short of the growing expectations which have accompanied the club in recent years.

Town could of course, yet break into the top seven. All is not lost as eight games and more than enough points remain.

But they are now stuck in their worst rut of the season – four consecutive defeats and without a goal in 20 minutes short of seven hours – and require a major upturn in form to have any chance of making that dream a reality.

Certainly the fans’ reaction suggest they feel the writing is on the wall for this campaign.

Regular boos and chants of ‘what a load of rubbish’ made for an uncomfortable afternoon for Simpson and his side.

“It was a tough day for us,” said the Town boss.

“We didn’t trouble them as much as we could.

First half I thought we passed the ball better than we have for a few weeks.

“But if you keep making stupid mistakes like we do and keep being as poor in attacking areas and not strong enough in defensive areas, it doesn’t matter whether you are playing a top or bottom of the League side.

“You don’t give yourself much chance.”

A worse start Shrewsbury couldn’t have imagined.

The hosts already appeared edgy and nervous through the early stages, and that was only magnified when the visitors took the lead on eight minutes.

Dean Holden’s gamble to slide in to make an interception backfired when he failed, leaving Josh Gray to race into acres of space down the Darlington left.

His cross picked out Tadgh Purcell who scuffed his first volley but was still allowed the time and space to fire a second effort home unopposed.

The unthinkable was occurring and Shrewsbury were – alarmingly – helpless to prevent it continuing.

Town had their moments as they searched for a leveller.

Jamie Cureton was let down by his touch when he burst clear, and also saw an attempted lob blocked by Shane Redmond in the Darlington goal. And Dave Hibbert fired over twice – once with a header and the other with a shot – as half-time approached.

But creativity and inspiration was in desperately short supply, while a 4-3-3 formation produced a total lack of width prior to changes after the break.

At the other end, Josh Gray and Gary Smith both drilled shots fractionally too high as Darlington relished playing with the freedom of a side who have accepted their fate.

The second half failed to produce any semblance of a Shrewsbury recovery, their only genuine chance coming from a Kevin McIntyre drive from distance which produced a fine tip-over save from Redmond.

Darlington should have put the result to bed when Smith somehow fired wide from 12 yards.

But that didn’t prove a costly miss.

Craig Liddle’s first victory as caretaker boss was sealed by an 87th minute strike from Mor Diop, the lively striker getting on the end of a low centre from Purcell to tap in from close range after Shrewsbury were opened up with ease.

It was a fresh negative to end a horribly dis-jointed afternoon which has left plenty of soul-searching for all connected with Shrewsbury on the agenda.

By James Garrison