Shrewsbury’s promotion dreams shattered

Saturday 21st May 2011, 11:30AM BST.

Shrewsbury Town’s promotion dream is over.

A crowd of more than 8,000 fans watched last night as the Shrews fight for promotion ended with a 2-0 aggregate defeat at the hands of Torquay United.

The result came as a bitter blow to supporters who are celebrating the club’s 125th anniversary. A cake was cut and balloons released before kick-off to mark the occasion.

Hopeful supporters turned out in facepaint, hats, scarfs, banners and flags.

But pre-match hope soon turned to disappointment as their side slumped to a third promotion play-off loss since 2006.

David Walter, of Grinshill, who watched the game with his family, said he was “hugely” disappointed with the result.

He said: “It’s a sad ending to the season and I think people were expecting a bit more from the team.”

Rob Wasteney, of Monkmoor, said he thought the players “worked hard” and the club still had great potential for next season.

He said: “The first leg was what really did the damage. Torquay set out their stall early on and it was always going to be a tough task. But we have a strong nucleus of players so there is hope for next season.”

Earlier in the season Shrewsbury were held at home by Wycombe after referee’s assistant Richard Wigglesworth awarded a goal to the visitors despite the ball not crossing the line. Shrewsbury missed out on automatic promotion by a single point.

Phil Williams, of Meole Brace, said: “We should have been automatically promoted and the real sickener is Wycombe’s ‘goal that never was’ denied us two precious promotion points.”

Conor Leach, 11, who was sporting a colourful headdress for the occasion, said he had been looking forward to travelling to Old Trafford for the final.