All good things must come to an end. But Shrewsbury Town will harbour plenty of regrets at seeing their longest unbeaten home start to a season since 1978-79 halted on such a damp squib of an afternoon.

The poorest performance of the campaign was Graham Turner’s slant on events and it was difficult to pick any arguments in the Town manager’s assessment.

Disjointed and lethargic, Shrewsbury struggled – the closing stages aside – to mount any pressure on an at times slick Crewe side who were full value for their triumph and are now just two points adrift of their Shropshire rivals.

Yes, Bank Holiday Monday truly fell flat for Town who failed to perform anywhere near their potential.

Right through the team, Shrewsbury failed to fire individually or collectively and it took until the final 15 minutes for them to truly pose any serious questions of their visitors.

The match-winning moment came in the 66th minute and was symptomatic of the malaise which gripped the home side.

A low cross from the right from full-back Matt Tootle somehow found its way past several Town defenders before falling to Shaun Miller, who was unmarked eight yards out and was afforded the luxury of a touch before firing past the helpless keeper Chris Neal.

Shrewsbury can’t say they weren’t warned.

Crewe looked the sharper side in the first half with Clayton Donaldson hitting the outside of the post from an impossibly tight angle as well as seeing a goalbound shot deflect just wide off Ian Sharps.

And the visitors were guilty of wasting two golden opportunities to break the deadlock before their winner when Miller and Donaldson fired the wrong side of the target with angled efforts from 12 yards.

Despite tactical tinkering, Shrewsbury simply couldn’t stamp their authority on proceedings, at least until a final 15 minute period which went a little way to warming up Town fans on a freezing afternoon.

The introduction of Lionel Ainsworth, Tom Bradshaw and — to a greater extent — Steve Leslie from the substitutes’ bench brought some impetus to Town who finally discovered a pace and tempo to their play which had been sadly lacking for the previous 75 minutes.

Leslie was to have a header cleared off the line by former Shrewsbury loanee Lee Bell, while the left footed midfielder curled a 20-yard shot just wide.

Shane Cansdell-Sherriff also glanced a header fractionally off target, but it was all too little too late from the hosts.

It has left Shrewsbury with a disappointing return of just one point from their first two games of 2011 and ended a seven match unbeaten league streak.

Despite this collective off day – and the fact the goals have slightly dried up – Town remain in a decent position to strike.

But to do that they must rediscover the creativity, firepower and penetration which generated a crescendo of early-season excitement.

There would be no better place to start than Saturday’s home clash with Morecambe.

By James Garrison