Graham Turner has seen it all in a football career which has stretched more than 40 years.

But even for a figure with that wealth of experience, Saturday’s astonishing events at Chesterfield would have taken some digesting.

An afternoon which many had long since written off as a lost cause came within a whisker of being remembered as arguably the greatest comeback in Shrewsbury Town’s history.

Three goals in a frantic final 10 minutes meant Town came unimaginably close to undoing the damage which had been largely created during an equally manic spell at the end of the first half.

Full credit to Shrewsbury – for whom Tope Obedayi made a hugely encouraging debut — for displaying the spirit and tenacity to attempt an unlikely rescue mission on the four goal deficit they were facing.

And while the late resurgence salvaged pride and confidence, it didn’t totally paper over the cracks exposed in a destructive 20 minute spell before half-time.

That was the pivotal period in a game which has left Shrewsbury seven points adrift of Chesterfield, the hosts turning an evenly-poised encounter into a 3-0 half-time advantage.

There had been little sign of what was to follow in the opening half hour.

Despite only arriving at the impressive B2Net Stadium just before 2.30pm after traffic problems on the M1, Shrewsbury gave as good as they got in the early stages, even if the quality of their neat approach play wasn’t matched by the final ball.

But from the moment Town fell behind on 29 minutes, the remainder of the first half changed and became one-way traffic in favour of the hosts.

For that brief period, gaps appeared all over the pitch and Shrewsbury struggled to contain a Chesterfield side who, buoyed by their biggest home crowd of the season, found the net on three occasions in next to no time.

The visitors would have been frustrated with at least two of those goals.

While the defence splitting pass from Jack Lester and the finish from Drew Talbot for the opener were both of high quality, Shrewsbury caused their own problems by losing possession.

And, 13 minutes later, they would have backed themselves to deal with the routine Talbot cross which allowed Lester to glance a header home.

But if both those goals could have been prevented, the third could only be admired, former Town youngster Craig Davies firing an unstoppable 25-yard effort into the top corner in first half injury-time.

Shrewsbury had gone from being comfortable to shell-shocked in 15 minutes.

They managed to restore their composure after the break, going close through an Ian Sharps header before Davies slid home a cross from Talbot for his second and Chesterfield’s fourth, in the process taking Town’s task to Everest proportions.

And how close they came to scaling the heights.

The introduction of Benjamin van den Broek, Steve Leslie and Kevin McIntyre gave Shrewsbury an added spark for the final quarter of a pulsating match which restored faith in football after the lunacy of the Wayne Rooney saga.

The trio were all to play a part in the goals which set up the most unlikely of grandstand finales.

Van den Broek’s selfless running set up Mark Wright for what appeared an 80th minute consolation before McIntyre reduced the deficit further.

And when a Leslie cross was glanced home off the head of Craig Disley in injury time, the unthinkable became a realistic prospect.

Town were to have one final opportunity when Obedayi cut across the box before firing over from 20 yards.

It would have been surprised nobody had that effort flown into the net to level the scores.

It had, after all, been that type of surreal afternoon.

Match analysis by JAMES GARRISON