Shrewsbury Town 1 Lincoln City 1 - Report and pictures

Hosts Town led through Ollie Norburn’s spot-kick 10 minutes before half-time but the Imps were back level without two minutes of the second half.

First-half substitute Omar Beckles collided, arms raised, with Jorge Grant and City top scorer Tyler Walker finished with aplomb.

Shrewsbury’s effort from 12 yards was justified as Ethan Ebanks-Landell was clipped by Conor Coventry.

But Sam Ricketts’ men are now five games in all competitions without a win having failed to keep a clean sheet in the same number of games, their poorest run of no shutouts in a season.

Town were a little hard done by not to have had another first half penalty as Shaun Whalley dropped under pressure and a Josh Laurent cross hit an outstretched arm. Shrews finished the first period well but did not get going after the break.

The big highlight for the hosts was the return of the impressive Callum Lang, who lasted 66 minutes on his comeback from injury. Academy graduate Ryan Sears was also back in the fold after a long time on the sidelines.

It was the Imps, who started the day one place and two points below Salop, who asked most of the questions in the second half. They found the woodwork twice and were denied by a couple of top Max O’Leary saves.

Town fans were delighted to see both Sears and Lang back in Ricketts’ starting XI.

For 21-year-old right-back Sears it was a first start in eight months since the ACL knee injury he picked up at the end of last season.

Newtown youngster Sears had just started and shone at Barnsley before picking up the unfortunate knock in training.

For Wigan loan frontman Lang it was a first start in more than three months after a broken metatarsal put paid to his bright start in Shrewsbury colours.

Whalley and Dave Edwards were also back in the Shrewsbury line-up, replacing Sean Goss and Ryan Giles to make up Town’s front three.

A Ricketts tactical tweak saw Edwards occupy the number 10 role centrally behind strike pair Lang and Whalley.

Giles dropped to the bench while there was no place in the squad for Goss.

Neither was there a spot in Ricketts’ 18 for Fejiri Okenabirhie for the third game running with the likelihood that the striker has played his last game for the club.

Michael Appleton’s Imps, who had lost more games in the division than any other side (10), had already made big moves in the January window and bolstered their ranks with no fewer than four new signings yesterday.

Two started, loan midfielder Coventry and striker Tyreece John-Jules were among the starters, while Tayo Edun and Max Melbourne were on the bench.

A response was needed from the hosts after their poor display in losing at Doncaster in midweek, where Ricketts’ men were uncharacteristically sloppy in defence and didn’t muster a single shot on target.

The highlight of an unremarkable opening 10 minutes was the sight of Lang busting a gut to apply pressure to the Imps backline.

Town, with Lang and Whalley paired together as a surprising front two, were trying to find ways to get their front two running at the visiting defence.

Shrewsbury saw more of the ball early on but City’s top scorer Walker had the game’s first sighter, as a well-struck curled effort from distance flew over.

Lincoln supporters felt their side were getting rough justice from referee Andy Haines and Shrewsbury, as they were entitled to, played on with an Imps man down, keeping the ball well in a move that eventually saw Championship target Laurent fire well wide from distance.

On the occasion Ricketts’ men did manage to knit a well-worked, incisive move together, Scott Golbourne was unable to pick out a blue and amber shirt with his cross too close to keeper Josh Vickers.

Town were dealt a big blow 20 minutes in as Aaron Pierre trudged off with an injury to be replaced by Beckles.

Shrewsbury had more of the ball but Lincoln went closest to scoring as their front pair of new-boy John-Jules and Walker combined very well.

The latter found space on the left side of Town’s penalty box and a very sharp left-footed strike, arrowing towards the bottom corner, was sent around his own post by a sprawling Max O’Leary save.

Half hour in and Town were yet to test Vickers. Murmurs of discontent were emerging from the Meadow stands with their side lacking tempo and opting to play a safe ball rather than break forward.

Sears, solid on his return, frightened the visitors’ backline with a sweet delivery from the right that Vickers palmed behind his own goal.

From that moment the Imps never really recovered. A couple of corners were only-cleared, it looked as if Edwards had missed the chance to shoot 10 yards out but a lofted Sears delivery dropped to Ebanks-Landell who was clearly tripped by debutant Coventry.

Skipper Norburn stepped up to take responsibility and buried his spot-kick, just Town’s second of the season, into the bottom left corner to the Meadow’s relief.

Shrewsbury played out the final 10 minutes of the first half well on top and were unfortunate not to be given another chance at scoring from 12 yards.

Whalley went down under pressure after turning a Lincoln defender but the officials waved play on, with Ricketts and first-team coach Dean Whitehead howling at the fourth official.

Moments later still Laurent, who had reached the byline from Norburn’s good lofted pass, struck a cross against Jason Shackell’s outstretched arm but the decision again went against Salop.

Ro-Shaun Williams stretched his neck muscles to send a fine header towards goal from a right-sided cross on the stroke of half-time but it dropped just wide of Vickers' right-hand post.

Shrewsbury didn’t want the first half to end, but endured a nightmare start to the second period.

Barely 90 seconds after the re-start referee Haines was pointing at the same penalty spot he awarded to Shrewsbury earlier in the afternoon.

Midfielder Jorge Grant had managed to creep into the right side of the Town box and dropped to the deck after Beckles had raised his arms on the midfielder.

There were little Shrewsbury complaints and cool customer Walker stepped up to convert the spot-kick beyond O’Leary into the bottom right corner.

Ricketts applauded his side on from his technical area and Shrewsbury played some good football in response.

Lang, who was having a good game, dragged a low strike wide from outside the box but was troubling the Imps defence with his strength, skill and control.

Some quick-thinking from a Lincoln free-kick almost caught out Town but O’Leary was out to deny Walker, a late offside flag would’ve chalked the goal off anyway.

Appleton’s men grabbed the initiative on the hour and were dreadfully unlucky not to take the lead.

Grant powered forward into space in midfield and let fly an arrowing strike from 25 yards that a flying O’Leary tipped on to his crossbar and over.

The stunning save should have cleared the danger but Salop got lucky seconds later as the crossbar was left shaking from skipper Jason Shackell’s fierce stabbed half-volley.

Town fell asleep from a set-piece and the away captain almost profited in acres of space on the edge of the box.

Lang’s impressive return was over on 66 minutes as Udoh was sent on in place of the Wigan loanee.

But the second period was mostly one way traffic in the direction of Shrewsbury’s goal.

The Imps scythed through the centre of Town’s team with ease in a move that ended with Walker’s shot rising over via O’Leary’s save.

Moments later and right-back Neal Eardley struck a rocket from outside the box that required another spectacular save from Town’s on-loan keeper.

Ricketts sent on Cummings with 15 minutes remaining in a bid to get things going in his side’s favour.

There was little sign of a late charge from the hosts who could not find a way to break the Imps down. Laurent’s late bicycle kick with a minute to go was a rare effort on goal for the largely untested Vickers to deal with as Town remained 15th but lost ground on sides above them.

Shrewsbury Town (3-4-3):

O’Leary; Williams, Ebanks-Landell, Pierre (Beckles, 20); Sears, Norburn ©, Laurent, Golbourne; Whalley, Lang (Udoh, 66), Edwards (Cummings, 76).

Subs not used: Murphy (gk), Walker, Love, Giles.

Lincoln City (4-4-2):

Vickers; Eardley, Bolger, Shackell (c), Toffolo; Morrell, Grant, Coventry, Hesketh (Elbouzedi, 43); John-Jules (Akinde, 65), Walker.

Subs not used: Smith (gk), Chapman, Lewis, Melbourne, Edun.

Referee: Andy Haines

Attendance: 6,275 (558 Lincoln fans)