Shrewsbury Town boss Graham Turner has called for his side not to panic after their 1-1 with Torquay United at the Greenhous Meadow.

The result extended Town’s winless run to three games, their worst sequence of results since Turner’s return.

But the Town chief has been quick to instil a sense of reality after the first 10 games of the season left Shrewsbury just four points off early leaders Port Vale.

“We’re fourth in the table currently and it’s not a bad position to be in at this stage,” said Turner.

“They’ll be games when we don’t flow and we don’t get our game going and that was one of the cases.

“But Port Vale lost, Chesterfield drew, and Rotherham drew. It’s a long season and I think after 12 games we’ll get a truer reflection of the league and our standing in it.”

Jake Robinson’s early goal had looked like sending Shrewsbury on their way to three points on Saturday.

But a spirited Torquay side rallied and, after skipper Nicky Wroe missed a penalty, Elliot Benyon levelled from the visitors’ second spot kick of an entertaining game.

Turner added: “It’s definitely a point gained.

“For the second penalty the ref I think half indicated no and it was the linesman who gave the penalty but I won’t make too much comment on that. It’s our own fault.

“We’ve had good results here and we’ve steamrollered teams here with our performances and maybe it was just a case of here we go again and we’ve only got to turn up to win the game but it was a rude awakening and one we’ve got to learn from.”

The draw did keep Town’s unbeaten home record intact ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Bury in the second round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Striker Kris Bright, who missed Saturday’s match with an ankle problem, is expected to be passed fit for the tie while Town are also hopeful Sean McAllister will recover for the trip to Gigg Lane.

By ALEX JAMES