Dave Edwards: As good as Shrewsbury have played - one mistake is costly

And it was a little bit unexpected on Thursday, because Exeter are a very, very good team who are very good on the ball.

They have very clever patterns of play in the build-up. The way they’re trying to build through the back three and the right wing-back comes inside to create an overload in midfield, makes it very hard for teams to win possession high up the pitch and they end up getting deeper and deeper.

I spoke to Chris Doig before the game and I said it might be a game where you spend a lot of time without the ball, and he gave me a little bit of a frown and said, ‘no, we’ve been working on it in training, we think we can catch these out a little bit and press a bit higher’.

It was a masterpiece the way they did press in that first half because Exeter were not able to get their overloads.

Town were so brave. Castledine was pushing up on the deep line in midfield and he was joined by Ojo or Rossiter, leaving themselves one-v-one at the back.

Exeter ran out of ideas in that first half, Shrewsbury were getting the ball back and using it really well.

They had some very good moments in that first half and created chances.

These were all after the Toto Nsiala mistake, which gifted Exeter the goal.

You could expect Shrewsbury’s confidence to dip then after that, but they went the other way and it was a terrific first half.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t maintain that intensity in the second half and you have to give credit to Gary Caldwell, the Exeter manager.

Although they’re winning 1-0, he made two changes. He saw that they were really struggling to play out and he brought Josh Magennis on up front, who’s a lot more physical.

It meant that as Shrewsbury went to press in the second half, they went over the top straight into Magennis and got Exeter playing a bit higher up the pitch.

It just stifled the way Shrewsbury were able to play in that second half a little bit, and it’s been a bit of a similar story all season.

They haven’t managed to gain that momentum in the second half to go and force goals and push teams back and make pressure count.

When Exeter got the second goal, it didn’t really look like Town were going to get back into it.

As a whole, it was such an improved performance and there were so many positives to take that if they can play in a similar fashion in the majority of games this season, then they’re going to pick up enough points to stay in the league. I have no doubt about that.

They’ve been getting better week on week. The relationships on the pitch have been looking stronger week on week. I feel like the older players are really leading these younger ones now.

They’ve got more resilience as well. So if we can cut out these little mistakes and start scoring goals at the right time, then I’m sure Town can move up that table quite quickly. It needs to happen sooner rather than later.

A trip to Bristol Rovers tonight is a great opportunity to go and get three points on the board with their recent away games, following the draw at Bolton and the win at Crawley.

If they can back that up with a good result in Bristol, then I think Paul Hurst will take all the positives despite that defeat against Exeter on Thursday night.

A loss to Bristol wouldn’t be the end of the season, but a win could make a huge difference.

It would take them closer to Bristol in the table and put a bit of pressure on them.

The performances are getting better and better and usually when that happens, the points will start to come. So let’s hope that Town can do that.

Bristol Rovers will be expected to win at home and that puts a bit of pressure on them.

I feel like Town have played that role really well in recent weeks and I hope they can do the same again.