Shrewsbury 0 Fleetwood 2 - Report

A goal in each half from Wes Burns and ex-Town loan man Kyle Vassell sealed the points for the visitors, who climbed to 15th, two places above their hosts.

The contest marked the one-year anniversary of the last time a full quota of supporters were permitted inside Montgomery Waters Meadow, where more than 6,400 fans saw Town lose 3-2 to Oxford United 364 days ago, before the pandemic brought the game to a shuddering halt. Things haven't been the same since.

It was a poor, jaded display from Shrewsbury, who look tired and low on confidence after a disappointing week that has brought just one point from games against Bristol Rovers, AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood, all of whom are around them in the lower reaches in the League One table.

Town’s tiredness is perhaps understandable, but all teams are playing against the same relentless fixture list. With manager Steve Cotterill watching on from hospital, perhaps it was inevitable that the team’s confidence and momentum would, at some stage, take a hit.

It is to their credit that, after a few bad results, Town remain comfortably clear of the drop both in places - they remain 17th - and points.

But, the third game in the space of seven days, Shrewsbury failed to get going and looked a shadow of the side that delighted onlookers just a couple of weeks ago. The performances had shades of last week’s limp effort at Bristol Rovers.

Stand-in boss Aaron Wilbraham, working in communication with the absent Cotterill, opted to make a change of personnel and shape at half-time, from 3-5-2 to a back four, but Shrewsbury were unable to wrestle the contest back in their favour.

Instead, Salop have come out of a seemingly attractive run of fixtures stuttering, tired and apparently low on confidence ahead of a testing trip to Rochdale on Tuesday and Charlton next weekend.

It was a contest of few chances but Fleetwood were deserving winners. The goals conceded were poor and left lots to be desired as Burns was firstly afforded half the pitch to run into and score from distance before Ged Gardner was offered acres of space to thread in Vassell.

Work to do then, for Salop, who remain on 38 points, still a handful of positive results away from the ‘magical’ 50-point mark, after three matches without a victory for just the second time since Cotterill’s appointment in late November.

Town players and staff emerged to warm up for the fixture in specially printed black t-shirts, with the message ‘get well soon gaffer, from your #blueamber army’ emblazoned in white letters.

The fixture, Shrews’ second home game in a week, was the 11th Salop have played without their manager leading from the front.

The management team opted for a couple of changes from the side that succumbed to a late draw against AFC Wimbledon in midweek.

One absentee was enforced, as captain Ollie Norburn missed out with the injury he sustained against Wimbledon. Town were due to receive scan results at the end of the week regarding the full extent of his diagnosis.

Coming into the team were Tuesday’s star goalscorer Harry Chapman and top scorer Shaun Whalley, with Daniel Udoh the other man to drop out of the side.

Brad Walker returned to the hosts’ bench after more than three months out with an ankle injury.

While Shrewsbury had gone two games without a win, a rare barren run under Cotterill and WIlbraham, Simon Grayson’s visitors had ended a poor run of their own with a fantastic 2-1 victory at title-chasing Lincoln on Tuesday.

The Cod Army, who replaced Joey Barton with ex-Preston and Sunderland boss Grayson at the turn of the year, and were unchanged for the trip to Shropshire.

They kicked off one place and two points above the home side in 16th.

Fleetwood, typically, showed signs of wanting to knock the ball around in the opening exchanges, but forged little of note in the home penalty area early on.

The hosts clicked into gear on 10 minutes. A sign of Fleetwood’s willingness to overplay in their own third saw Shrewsbury almost profit from a hospital pass across defence but goalkeeper Alex Cairns was sharp to clear, something of a theme early on.

Shrews showed a glimpse of their class just after, man of the moment Chapman picked out a delightful left-footed through ball in the inside left channel to release Nathanael Ogbeta to the left byline.

The former Manchester City youngster came through as a youngster at the Etihad Stadium perfecting those low crosses across the six yard box and almost replicated it perfectly at the Meadow, his low delivery superbly cut out by Cairs with Curtis Main inches away from pouncing from close range.

The ball ricocheted out to Josh Vela on the edge of the box but the midfielder’s half-volley was flicked off target.

It wasn’t the most thrilling of spectacles this season as Fleetwood the ball in small triangles with little to shout about in the final third. Town frontman Main proved how effective he was in his own penalty area with a number of dominant clearing headers from set-pieces.

Ex-Town loan frontman Kyle Vassell, on loan at Fleetwood from Rotherham, proved an early test for Ro-Shaun Williams, edging the home defender on a couple of physical battles, while Williams’ distribution suffered on a couple of occasions.

The visitors did test Matija Sarkic’s concentration on half hour as forward-thinking defender Danny Andrew tested the on-loan goalkeeper from distance, Sarkic equal to the 30-yard effort with a low save to his left.

David Davis, making his second Shrews start in a week building on Tuesday’s full debut, tried to rally his team-mates in what was a lacklustre opening. The former Birmingham midfielder launched several earfulls towards colleagues in an attempt to get his side going.

Away skipper Callum Connolly flicked a header on from a James Hill long throw that brought another low save from Sarkic.

Shrews had their moments despite Fleetwood being in charge of possession. Chapman led a three-on-three breakaway but his outside-of-the-foot pass for Main to the right, as opposed to Whalley on the other side, allowed defenders to recover.

Then, four minutes before the interval, Salop almost profited from another loose pass from the red and white visiting shirts as Hill’s poor ball was picked off by Whalley, but the Town man struggled to really stretch Cairns.

It appeared the sides would head inside level after a forgettable first period but another loose ball out from Williams proved the hosts’ undoing.

Still, as right wing-back Burns picked the ball up just inside his own half, there was a lot of work for the Fleetwood stalwart to do to threaten Sarkic’s goal.

But Burns was somehow allowed to venture forward unchallenged almost through the entirety of the Shrewsbury half before accepting the invitation to shoot from 25 yards with a well-struck effort that arrowed into the bottom left corner.

Sarkic, carrying a quad injury, could not get down quickly enough to keep out the fierce effort but the goalkeeper will have been frustrated with his team-mates allowing the Fleetwood man to venture forward and shoot unchallenged.

Town required a change at the break to inject something into their performance and Sean Goss emerged as a second-half change, coming on for wing-back Daniels, who did little wrong in a frustrating first period.

The switch brought a change of shape to the form of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 that Salop had played in recent weeks.

The hosts looked desperate for a change and Goss, playing in an advanced ‘No 10’ role, was busy in the early stages.

Goss got forward well and a neat lofted ball with his weaker right foot almost released Whalley but Cairns was sharp again.

Fleetwood should have had a second as Andrew’s dangerous back post corner appeared to deceive Sarkic and dribbled wide at the back post with an intervention from Williams.

Town had more of the ball around the hour mark as the sun made a rare appearance at the Meadow but danger to the visiting backline was few and far between.

Chapman did test Cairns with a low free-kick from a left angle but the keeper did well to keep hold after initially threatening to spill the effort.

Town introduced Walker in an unfamiliar right-back position on the midfielder’s return to action.

They had a decent sighter of an equaliser midway through the second period as sub Goss flashed a half-volley well wide from the edge of the box after Whalley’s cross.

But, just a couple of minutes later, the visitors put the game to bed.

It was another poor goal for Shrewsbury, for the second time with minimal pressure on the Fleetwood player, as Ged Garner was afford the freedom of the Meadow midfield to pick a lovely disguised through ball into the box where ex-Salop striker Vassell kept his composure for a cool low finish across Sarkic.

Vassell failed to net in 13 loan games with Town in the 2015/16 season but has now managed a couple of Meadow goals in successive seasons.

Town responded immediately with a triple change introducing strike duo Udoh and Rekeil Pyke, as well as Dave Edwards, but it felt like the damage had long been done.

Young striker Garner’s confidence was typified when he tried an impudent chip from an almost impossible left angle from the edge of the penalty area.

There was little to cheer for Salop on an afternoon to forget, to cap a disappointing week.

Just one point from a possible nine against Bristol Rovers, AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood proved an underwhelming return as Town appear jaded and struggling for confidence, with the gap between 17th-placed Salop and the bottom four cut slightly to eight points.

Teams

Shrewsbury Town (3-5-2):

Sarkic; Pennington (Walker, 68), Ebanks-Landell ©, Williams; Daniels (Goss 45), Davis (Edwards, 75), Vela, Chapman (Pyke, 75), Ogbeta; Whalley, Main (Udoh, 75).

Subs not used: Burgoyne, Sears.

Fleetwood Town (3-5-2):

Cairns; Hill, Connolly ©, Andrew; Burns (Holgate, 90), Rossiter, Batty (Finley, 87), Camps, Rydel (Donacien, 79); Vassell (Madden, 79), Garner (Saunders, 79).

Subs not used: Coleman, Duffy.

Referee: Michael Salisbury

Attendance: Zero