Glimmer of hope for Shrewsbury Town - match analysis and pictures

By Martin Swain

Forty-five minutes later, there was just a little hope that they can somehow defy the odds.

A second-half recovery was enough to grab a deserved point from this Greenhous Meadow contest and lift spirits which were flagging after a drab first-half performance which had relegation stamped all over it.

Mike Jackson's team still face an uphill battle to avoid that calamity but they will be feeling a little better about the challenge after wresting control of the game back from the visitors.

Man of the match Paul Parry scored the 56th-minute equaliser which cancelled out a first-half Josh Simpson strike for Crawley which would be the prelude to growing impatience and an outbreak of boos as the interval arrived.

But the real drama of the night was reserved for a finale which might have seen either side snatch victory.

A scrambled effort from a Joe Mills free-kick was cleared from behind the line by Crawley defender Kyle McFadzean with the Shrews players adamant the ball was over. No goalline technology means no definitive proof.

Even then, Shrewsbury's tensions were exposed with Joe Anyon needing to make a superb, point-blank save to deny Crawley substitute Jamie Proctor a winner.

Now for Molineux and what looks to be the most daunting task on the League One fixture list at the moment with Wolves last night steam-rollering Swindon and posting a club record nine successive victories.

No-one at this game would give the Shrews a prayer based on the lack lustre first 45 minutes. Jackson's team looked precisely what they are – one in search of a break, but a sense of misfortune was back on their shoulders in the 24th minute when a rash Connor Goldson challenge on Rory Fallon – far too experienced a forward not to take the fall – gave Crawley a free-kick just outside the area.

Billy Clarke's shot was blocked only for the ball to drop perfectly into the path of Josh Simpson who drilled his shot wide of Anyon.

The only surprising feature of the opening 45 minutes was that the Shrews fashioned two telling efforts on target, both from the hard-working Sam Foley who first forced a one-handed save from Paul Jones and then angled a shot beyond the keeper but off a post.

Full credit to Jackson who seized the moment and introduced significant changes that visibly lifted his team. The arrival of the charging Jermaine Grandison at right-back would be the symbol of the second-half display but it was the switch of Ryan Woods into central midfield which controlled the tempo.

Shrewsbury found more conviction and a splendid 56th-minute equaliser curled around Jones by Parry as he cut across the defence.

Perhaps there should have been a penalty, too, for the excellent Mills after a surging run was unceremoniously blocked off by Mark Connolly and McFadzean.

A rampaging finale saw Grandison force one more free-kick and Mills provide a swerving cross with which Crawley could not cope. Whether or not McFadzean got in his clearance before the ball crossed the line is now redundant but it felt like a cruel blow at the time.

With the memory of Bristol City's agonising 'just over the line' winner in their minds from Saturday, they will feel they are due a break. Maybe they will get it when they least expect it and it will stop the charge of the Molineux men.

The Shrews will be asking for trouble if they offer the leaders the kind of limp challenge with which they started this game. But if nothing else, that second 45 minutes must shine a light on the way out of their dark tunnel.