Shrewsbury Town analysis: Quality does not match Salop's new-found endeavour
This was a game that showed how far Shrewsbury Town have come - and yet how much further they still have to go.
A 3-1 defeat on the road at Fleetwood Town - continuing Salop's struggles away from Shropshire - may not be much to write home about, but mere months ago this could have looked very different.
The defending for at least two of the three goals? Dreadful. The attacking play? Toothless.
Yet this is a Shrewsbury team that has discovered something it has been missing for a long time: Heart and endeavour.
Whether it will be enough to secure their Football League status this season, only time will tell.
Three-nil down with 72 minutes on the clock, several Salop teams of the recent past would have folded, and with the mood Fleetwood were in, this could have ended up a rout.
Instead, the visitors kept plugging away, got themselves a goal back through Ismeal Kabia and were then mere inches from setting up a grandstand finish when Josh Ruffels' strike flashed past the post.
Fleetwood were rattled by Shrewsbury's perseverance in the face of adversity so much so that former Town defender James Bolton ended up with his marching orders in stoppage time after a clash with substitute Chuks Aneke.
