Dave Edwards: Shrewsbury display at Exeter an outlier that hurts survival chances

It was another disappointing weekend for Shrewsbury Town supporters after their side lost again in League One. 

At the start of Gareth Ainsworth’s reign, aside from the brilliant win against Birmingham, there would have been some performances the Shrewsbury boss would not have been happy with. 

But at that time, he was learning about his squad. In the main since then, they have been very competitive in every single game.

They have made it really difficult for other teams, and that was something that was so evidently missing on the weekend at Exeter. 

There can be multiple reasons for a performance like that. It's a difficult journey down to Devon. It's quite hard to believe sometimes, but being a player and being through it, it does take it out of you.

You still need to find that intensity and spark from somewhere, and unfortunately, no player in the team really managed to provide that, to drag the team through, to give them a little bit of motivation and positivity during the game.

They never really got going, which is really unfortunate when you see the position they're in because they're on a poor run of form in recent weeks, and again, that can impact the way you play when your confidence has been knocked.

At this point of the season where it's do or die, you really wanted a big performance from the players out on the pitch, and unfortunately, Ainsworth did not get that.

He was disappointed post-match. He was not happy the players were not able to work things out for themselves on the pitch. 

That is where you need some real characters. The poorest thing is that Exeter didn't have to work hard for their goals.

Two-second phases of set-pieces. The first came after there was a moment obviously with a penalty, which I didn't think was one - again. I think Shrewsbury have been hard done by on decisions of late, but Jamal Blackman makes a fantastic save.

There is a lot of luck involved with the first goal with where the ball bounces but you just want bodies in better positions to make the clearance. 

The second goal was too easy as well. A simple long throw-in headed away and Demetri Mitchell, who has too much space, finishes. 

Away from that there was not a lot in it. They managed to take their chances and Salop didn't create enough. 

That's the way it's going at the moment, and it's looking increasingly more and more unlikely they are going to get themselves away from that bottom four as it's now 11 points adrift.

It's a huge ask with 10 games to go - it really is. But whilst there is still a chance, there are still points to play for, you have just got to keep going.

They need to treat every game on an individual basis and give their absolute best in that game. 

Regardless of whether you are going to be at Shrewsbury Town next year as a player, you're playing for yourself and what your future is going to dictate. You've got to have that pride in your performance.

They have a huge game on Saturday again, they are all big games, but at the Meadow against Burton, the team that are closest to getting out of that relegation zone, it really is a must-win. It's not something I like saying, but it really is a must-win.

It's an area where Shrewsbury have got to really improve, they've only won once against teams in the bottom eight.