Shrewsbury Town’s away woes continue with fourth league defeat at Fleetwood

Shrewsbury Town’s away woes and difficult start to the season continued as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Fleetwood Town.

The scoreline wasn’t as damaging as the 4-0 battering Town suffered against the Cods in the EFL Cup just 11 days earlier, but their struggles on the road remain a concern.

Their return to the Fylde Coast was a fifth away game in seven across all competitions, yet Town are still without a League Two point on their travels and have now failed to score in each of their last five away league matches.

Ronan Coughlan’s close-range strike shortly before half-time and Aaron Loupalo-Bi’s late goal proved decisive as Town slipped to a fourth league defeat of the campaign.

Josh Davison had Salop’s clearest chance of the first half, latching onto a good header from George Lloyd before driving straight at Jay Lynch from the edge of the box.

Chances were otherwise at a premium. Kian McMahon-Brown curled over after some promising movement on his first start since joining on loan, but Town struggled to turn possession into clear-cut opportunities.

Fleetwood offered little more, with Will Brook comfortably holding Adam Murphy’s effort as Town largely kept the hosts’ attacking threat at bay.

But Brook was punished for a moment of hesitation shortly before the break when he was deemed to have held onto the ball for too long, resulting in a corner.

Fleetwood took it quickly, sending the ball towards the back post where Town were beaten to the first header. The ball was then nodded back across the six-yard box, allowing Coughlan to fire home unmarked.

Shrewsbury looked for a response after the break and were furious when penalty appeals for a challenge on Arkell Jude-Boyd were waved away following good work to get into the box.

But Town could not muster the attacking quality required to seriously trouble Lynch before Fleetwood sealed the points late on.

Luca Hoole was beaten on the byline by a ball over the top, and Loupalo-Bi’s effort took a deflection off Sam Stubbs to take it past Brook.

Another blank on the road leaves Shrewsbury still searching for their first League Two points away from home.