Fleetwood Town 3 Shrewsbury Town 1 - match report
Shrewsbury Town endured another tough afternoon on the road as they slipped to a convincing defeat at Fleetwood Town.
The Cod Army eased to a 3-1 victory as Ryan Graydon, Lewis McCann and Matty Virtue made Salop pay for errors in defence before Ismeal Kabia got one back late on.
Despite no shortage of endeavour, Shrewsbury are still nervously looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone rather than climbing into mid-table on the back of their good recent form.
Both sides had unchanged starting XIs from their matches the previous weekend against sides at the opposite ends of the table.
Fleetwood held leaders Swindon Town 1-1 at home, while Town were edging Newport County in their bottom-of-the-table encounter.
Taylor Perry and Chuks Aneke did return to the substitutes' bench having missed out seven days earlier.
The first opportunity fell to Fleetwood five minutes in when Virtue found some space in the middle and played in Ethan Ennis down the right. His cross to the back post was a dangerous one, but headed over the top by his opposite winger McCann.
Fleetwood were a threat again shortly after as Shrews failed to clear a bouncing ball from the edge of the penalty area and Virtue had a low shot smartly saved by goalkeeper Will Brook.
The visitors responded with their first effort of the game as the ball fell kindly to Sam Clucas, whose shot from range stung the palms of Fleetwood goalkeeper, and captain, Jay Lynch.
Salop, however, would fall behind when Fleetwood top scorer Graydon reacted quickest when the ball broke loose in the Shrewsbury half, and he clipped it over the onrushing Brook to give the hosts the advantage midway through the first half.
Graydon would not make it to half-time as he limped off to be replaced by Will Davies soon after, and Salop would end the half on top - with Anthony Scully being just inches away from a leveller as he clipped the post with a fierce strike with the final kick of the half.
Salop remained a threat at the start of the second period as Kabia's low cross was cleared and Clucas lashed over, but Fleetwood doubled their advantage in the 56th minute.
McCann cut in from the left on to his right foot and shot goalwards, with Sam Stubbs sticking a boot out on the edge of the six-yard box and inadvertently diverting it over Brook and into the roof of the Shrewsbury net.
The visitors were rattled for the first time, and it could have got worse on the hour-mark when Kabia and McDermott got themselves in a tangle and Davies forced a fine save from Brook, before another shot deflected goalwards from the resultant corner and McDermott was in the right place to head the ball off the line.
Appleton responded with a triple change as the rain began to fall, but it failed to have the desired effect as the Cod Army marched through again to make it 3-0 when Taylor Perry - one of the three to come on - scuffed a clearance and Virtue curled the ball along the floor into the bottom left corner.
Kabia would finally give the travelling Salop faithful something to cheer seven minutes from time when he steered the ball inside Lynch's near post.
Josh Ruffels almost set up a grandstand finish when he shaved the post from the edge of the area and Aneke then had a header saved by Lynch, while at the other end Davies twice could not force the ball home as a frantic finish drew to a close with an unnecessary clash between Aneke and ex-Town man James Bolton that saw the former booked and the latter red-carded.
Fleetwood Town: Lynch, Bolton, Graydon (Davies 40), Virtue, Helm, McCann (Mullarkey 82), Ennis (Medley 72), Evans (Coughlan 72), Holgate, Neal (Bonds 72), Hughes. Subs not used: Harrington, Morrison.
Shrewsbury Town: Brook, Anderson, Boyle, Clucas, McDermott (Perry 66), Sang (Hoole 66), Scully, Kabia, Ruffels, Stubbs, Marquis (Aneke 66). Subs not used: Harrison, Benning, England, Gray.
