Dave Edwards: Another poor weekend for Shrewsbury Town

It was an afternoon where Salop did not do the simple things well. In any league, that is really important, but given Town’s current predicament, doing the basics is the bare minimum they need to produce right now.

You do those, then you have to hope you have the quality in the team to get you over the line. I think Shrewsbury have a better team, with better quality and they should have come out on top.

But Harrogate did those basics a lot better than Town did, and that is why they came out victorious, while Salop fell to their sixth loss of the season.

It was little things like winning second balls in midfield, being on the front foot, and anticipation to be ready for where you think the ball is going to go to give you the edge on your opponent.

I think Salop were very reactive rather than proactive. That is a mentality thing. It is something which happens in your brain, it is not a physical thing.

It is about being switched on in those moments.

The basics of defending eluded Shrews. They have let in goals too easily, and that is why they are struggling. They always concede the first goal, and they are always chasing the game.

The manner in which we did was incredibly disappointing. The first goal in particular. There was no pressure on the ball and when they have it on the halfway line, you have to start to drop. You cannot be high up the pitch, and you cannot leave space in behind for people to run into.

Then you have to cover each other. They were too high in that moment, and they were caught out by a direct ball forward. Luca Hoole was in a position that he will not be that used to.

Toto Nsiala got lost under the ball, so it is such an avoidable goal. If you keep it tight away from home later in the game, despite not playing their stellar best, they still have a good chance to collect three points.

Going behind just makes it really tough. The defensive re-shuffle hurt. Losing Sam Stubbs and Tom Anderson at the point in the game to injury, no doubt had an impact.

Those guys will have wanted a better clean sheet record, but they are still very important. When you lose two players from your team like that, it is going to hurt, and it certainly did.

As Town tried to get back into the game, they lacked guile and energy. They needed to make some runs with some real intent. There was not enough of that.

If you combine everything Town did, then it is a recipe for losing a football match. The numbers do not look great. They have five points from 27 available at the start of this season.

On average, they are conceding two goals a game, and while there had been some green shoots of optimism a few weeks ago with performances improving, the last two weeks will have set Town back. That momentum feels like it has gone.

They have to start winning games as quickly as possible. I do believe the squad is good enough to be competing in the middle of League Two, as a minimum. It is just a big confidence thing at the moment.

The only way they can get that is by taking the lead in games and picking up points. Yet, it does not get much easier with MK Dons coming to the Croud Meadow next weekend either.