Town's Steve Leslie sees his shot go wide

Shrewsbury Town have had their fair share of regrets this season.

But when the dust settles on a campaign which looks ever more likely to end on May 8 and not beyond, none will be greater than their inability to kill off the League Two strugglers.

Last night’s goalless draw against an improving, but still lowly, Cheltenham means Town have won just once in six attempts against the division’s bottom three teams.

Mounting a promotion campaign is virtually impossible against a backdrop of such a statistic.

And so it seems certain to prove, with Shrewsbury now requiring something akin to a footballing miracle to reach the top seven.

Paul Simpson’s side were to have their chances on a night when they performed in snatches, an encouraging opening 15 minutes backed up with a late rally following the introduction of Steve Leslie and Benjamin van den Broek.

But, in between, Town lost their way as a lack of creativity and quality in the final third – not the first time that has been levelled at Town this season – proved costly.

Indeed, they were forced to ride their luck on several occasions at the other end as Cheltenham came closest to snatching the spoils.

Searching for a fourth straight victory, the visitors were denied twice by the woodwork, once by the offside flag and on two more occasions by the excellence of the ever consistent Dave Button.

“It was a frustrating night,” said defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff.

“We worked hard but it didn’t fall for us. We lacked a bit of cuteness around their goal.

“But the general attitude was good and we put the pressure on in the second half.

“They had a few chances too but I think that was because we were pushing so much for the win.”

Town will take solace from back-to-back clean sheets, with on-loan Button again providing a commanding last line of defence.

He was to make one fine first half save from Josh Low, but arguably trumped that after the break when he used his legs to deny the dangerous Justin Richards in a one-on-one situation.

But Cheltenham’s frustration at not grabbing a fourth successive victory wouldn’t have ended there.

Arguably their best chance of the night fell to Barry Hayles in the run-up to half-time, the experienced striker somehow prodding wide from eight yards.

And they were also to rattle the Town woodwork on two occasions after the break, David Bird striking the bar with a free kick from 25 yards before Low’s edge-of-the-box drive glanced the inside of the post and rebounded to safety.

The visitors certainly created the clearer opportunities, although Shrewsbury were also to have their sightings of goal.

Kelvin Langmead headed a first half corner from Jake Simpson over the bar, while Leslie was denied at the back post by excellent defensive work from Andy Gallinagh after a superb low centre from van den Broek.

But Shrewsbury’s big chance of the night fell to Cureton.

He has spent a career snaffling the type of opportunity which fell his way on 77 minutes but, when the hosts needed it most, he lashed it well over the bar as his goalless streak in blue-and-amber extended to nine starts and two substitute appearances.

Richards did have the ball into the net late on for the visitors, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

That left both sides settling for a point, one which was far more useful to Cheltenham’s battle for survival than Shrewsbury’s fast fading aspirations of reaching the play-offs.

By James Garrison