Torquay United 2 Shrewsbury Town 0
Shrewsbury Town's promotion hopes were left dangling by a thread after a disappointing semi-final first leg defeat at the hands of Torquay.
Shrewsbury Town's promotion hopes were left dangling by a thread after a disappointing semi-final first leg defeat at the hands of Torquay.
After a bright enough start, it all started to go wrong for Town on 24 minutes when they lost captain Ian Sharps to injury and then fell a goal down four minutes later to a deflected Chris Zebroski effort.
Eunan O'Kane doubled the advantage for the hosts from 20 yards in first half injury time and Town goalkeeper Ben Smith made a number of crucial second half saves to prevent further damage.
Substitute Tom Bradshaw, who also cleared a Torquay effort off the line, went close to pulling one back for Shrewsbury when he fired a half chance over from the edge of the box late on.
But Shrewsbury have it all to do in Friday's second leg at a packed Greenhous Meadow if they are to reach the Old Trafford final.