Analysis: Sorry Shrewsbury easily swept aside and fail to lay glove on Blackpool in thumping

But unfortunately, anything but the case was true on Saturday.

Most reasonable Shrews fans would not go to Blackpool expecting to win, in fact before the game most would have thought a draw was a good result.

But if you are going to lose, there is a way to do it, and the 4-0 defeat at Blackpool simply was not the way to lose.

If it was a boxing match, the famous phrase they ‘did not lay a glove on their opponent’ would have been true and Blackpool never got out of second gear to win very comfortably.

The away record does not make pretty reading for Shrews, they have lost seven out of their nine on the road, and it is something Matt Taylor has admitted needs addressing, it needs addressing fast.

Early in the season Town were resolute and strong defensively, they were tight at the back keeping plenty of clean sheets, but that seems to have evaporated.

In the five games since the 2-0 defeat at Wigan, Town have now conceded 12 goals, which will disappoint the coaching staff.

They actually started brightly, Tom Bayliss getting in down the right with a wonderful piece of skill and forcing a save from Dan Grimshaw.

But it went downhill from there. Jordan Rhodes gave the visitors the lead when Tom Flanagan brought down the lively Karamoko Dembele in the box.

It gave referee Ben Speedie no choice but to point to the spot, and Rhodes netted his 10th of the season.

That lead was doubled after a defensive mistake from Joe Anderson.

Anderson had been restored to the side by Taylor, he got the nod on the left side of the back three, and the in-form Jason Sraha moved out to left wing-back.

But CJ Hamilton turned Anderson just past the half-hour mark. He got to the byline, and Jake Beesley was there to smuggle it home.

A bleak half got a lot worse for Town when Tom Bayliss trudged off with what looked to be an ankle injury. Taylor revealed after the game the former Coventry and Preston man left in a boot. So that is yet another injury to blow to add to the list.

There was a period after the break where Town managed to keep the ball, but they were unable to convert that possession into a clear-cut chances and Bayliss’s effort in the second minute was their first until Dan Udoh’s tame effort not far from the final whistle.

Marko Marosi made a terrific double save.

Admittedly, the Salop number one had given the ball away initially, but he stopped an effort from distance from Sonny Carey before denying Beesley while he was still on the floor.

The third goal did come, though. Sraha could not cut out a ball forward and substitute Kyle Joseph ran forward and smashed it beyond Marosi.

Beesley’s second, and Blackpool’s fourth, added insult to injury on what was a very very challenging day at the seaside.

Where does this leave the team?

Well, the injury to Bayliss gives Taylor and his staff yet another injury headache.

Goals have been lacking this season and he looked like one of the more likely players to provide them.

They have a derby against Port Vale next weekend, which will see Vale bring a packed-out away end.

The scenes were fairly hostile at full-time and defeat against local rivals will only bring more scenes of that ilk.

They then have a Tuesday night trip to Exeter, a side who started the season so well but have now lost eight of their last nine in games in League One action, so it feels like there will be a lot riding on this one.

Taylor said post-match: “It is an unacceptable result.

“The goals that we have given away, without having the time to go back over them, are not anywhere near good enough.

“We have got to get back to the clean sheet mentality that we had earlier in the season. We have got to be better away from home. Fact. End of.

“Accept full responsibility on behalf of the football club for the result. It is not good enough.

“More than 850 of our fans have spent their money to come and watch us, and for us to put in a performance like that is nowhere near acceptable.

“It is not good enough. We will look at that. I will tell you one thing we will be putting that right come Monday when the players are in, I can tell you that for nothing.”