Town 0 Blues 2 - Report and pictures
Shrewsbury Town fell to their first defeat of pre-season as they were beaten 2-0 by a very well-drilled Birmingham City.
Blues, who were in action at both the Greenhous Meadow and Northampton Town, were handed two goals in the opening 15 minutes.
Wesley Thomas and Clayton Donaldson applied the simple finishes. For boss Micky Mellon, it was certainly the test he had gone looking for.
His team grew into the action and unfortunate to come out on the losing side on the night.
With a number of changes from Saturday's late draw with Cardiff City, the action got underway in comical fashion.
Mark Ellis under-hit a back-pass to goalkeeper Callum Burton. Thomas was on-hand and beat Burton in a 50-50 challenge before slotting into an empty net.
Shrewsbury responded well as Liam McAlidnen saw the sting taken out of his effort as it rolled through to Thomas Kuszczak.
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro then fizzed narrowly wide from 30 yards, after an impressive burst of pace.
Shrewsbury Town (4-4-2): Burton, Tootle (Paterson 73), Sadler, Lawrence (M Woods 46), Ellis, Goldson (Whalley 46), Clark (Barnett 46), Ogogo (Brown 46), Collins (Vernon 46), McAlinden, Akpa Akpro (McKnight 46).
Substitutes not used: Rowley (GK), R Woods, Demetriou, Caton.
Attendance: 1919 (245 from Birmingham)
But as Mellon's men grew into the encounter they were undone by another individual error.
A cross-field pass aiming at Jacques Maghoma looked to be cut out by Matt Tootle, but the full-back misjudged the flight of the ball.
It left Maghoma the simple task of squaring to Donaldson who doubled the visitor's lead on 14 minutes. Blues skipper Jonathan Spector headed narrowly over from a corner on half hour.
David Cotterill came close to extending the Blues lead with a sublime long-range chip from the right-hand side that landed just wide with Burton backpedaling.
With wholesale changes at the break, the new-look Shrewsbury side came out on the front foot.
First Scott Vernon had an effort deflected into Kuszczak's arms, before Tyrone Barnett drove a powerful long-distance effort into the Salop Leisure Stand.
Junior Brown was lively after his interval introduction, his pace down the left-wing leading to a cross that just evaded Barnett.
The forward was then unfortunate to lose out on the bounce of the ball with Spector when ready to pounce.
Barnett was heavily involved with everything good going forward for the hosts, his nice take and turn on the edge of box manouvered a yard of room, but a weak effort missed the left post by a foot.
It looked as if Mellon's men had halved the deficit just after the hour, but Vernon was judged offside after he had nodded Jermaine Grandison initial header into an empty net.
Shaun Whalley's dangerous low cross looked set for Barnett to tuck away but for the timely intervention of Spector who made a goal-saving challenge.
Ellis then headed Whalley's resulting corner at Kuszczak. Shrewsbury continued to look the more dangerous in the second period.
Another nice move involving Brown and Barnett saw Vernon volley left-footed high and wide.
Cotterill was at it again with 20 minutes remaining, executing another chip, this time from nearer the half-way line - that forced Burton right back underneath his crossbar before catching.
The experienced winger then struck from the right side of the penalty box, flying over the right angle by inches.
Barnett's header on the six-yard line from Whalley's corner skewed horribly wide in a moment that summed up Shrewsbury's second half in-front of goal.
Mat Sadler was denied against his former club in stoppage time by a smart Kuszczak save, before Grandison's effort was cleared off the line from the last kick of the game.
