Ollie Westbury comment: Too few goals, too easy to beat – the dire Shrewsbury Town stats

Arguably, the game against the Tykes was the low point of the season so far as goals from Jon Russell and Max Watters either side of half-time condemned them to another defeat.

What were the talking points on another bruising day in Shropshire?

Day to forget against Barnsley

Saturday was a dark day for Salop fans. They lost their third game in succession against the Tykes, which makes the 5-3 win over Crawley Town seem a distant memory.

Paul Hurst has been keen to reinforce – and he would be right to – that Town have at the bare minimum competed in every game they have played this season.

But Saturday was the exception to that rule as they were comfortably beaten by Darrell Clarke’s side. Even the most positive of Town fans would have found very little to remain optimistic about.

Town’s 0.12 xG (expected goals) shows what little effect they had in forward areas – and combined with their habit of conceding in every game but one – creates a recipe for disaster.

Too easily beaten

That defeat makes it 10 losses from 14 in league action this season. On current form, they are set to lose more than 30 games this campaign.

It will not come as a surprise but that is not just relegation form, it is a run of results that could see them go down as the division’s bottom club.

Carlisle finished bottom last season having lost 30 of their 46 games.

Town’s issue has been not taking anything from certain games when they have competed and deserved a point – losing too much becomes a habit.

The pressure now piles on them as they head to Burton Albion in league action.

Hurst’s decision to leave out Josh Feeney seemed a strange call to make, given he has been one of the success stories to this point.

Cambridge inspiration

There are very few positives you can take out of this season so far from a Shrewsbury perspective, but they should take some comfort from what Cambridge have done in recent weeks.

They had been worse than Shrews for a vast majority of this campaign, that was until three matches ago. And since then they have won three consecutive games and they are just one point away from moving out of the relegation places.

If, and it is a big if, Shrewsbury can string a run together like that then there is still hope for them.

Huge clash at Salford

Hurst said this weekend’s game against mid-table League Two club Salford could be a welcome break from league action.

However, losing to Karl Robinson’s side will surely only further heap pressure on a team that is already struggling.

The FA Cup has given Town so many positive memories over the last few years, as well as giving them a huge boost from a financial perspective.

Failure to progress would therefore hurt Town in more ways than one.