Review of the season so far: How have Shrewsbury Town got to this point?

They opened the campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Stevenage, and their most recent game was a defeat with the same scoreline on the road at Leyton Orient. 

In the middle of that, there have been hammerings, close losses, derby failures, poor refereeing decisions, managerial sackings and the odd good result thrown in there for good measure. 

The defeat at Orient over a week ago saw Shrewsbury go past the halfway point of the campaign, and they now have 22 matches to get the points they need to get themselves out of this tricky position. 

Salop have found themselves in the bottom four for the vast majority of this season, and that is largely down to their terrible defensive record. 

When Paul Hurst was dismissed on November 3 - after the 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Salford, they had lost 11 of their opening 15 games and conceded 27 times - at almost two goals per game. 

Wins against Crawley and Leyton Orient were rare moments of joy, but Shrewsbury hit the self-destruct button too many times in that opening few months of the season. 

Games that stick out in the memory would be the 2-1 defeat at Mansfield where Salop were good value for their lead at the break - only for them to give away a terrible penalty within moments of the re-start handing the initiative to their opponents. 

Bristol Rovers away was another bitter pill for Shrewsbury to swallow in that run. They always conceded - they could not stop themselves. 

But Tom Bloxham's late strike in the final moments looked to have secured them a point - only to be ruled out by a bizarre officiating mistake - where they adjudged John Marquis to be incorrectly offside. 

Hurst had decided to make the pitch bigger in Shropshire in the summer - and that felt like a costly decision. 

Town were open, and despite them playing some good football at times, their opponents just had better players and they paid the price for it. 

League One is a very good standard this season, and Town have just not been able to compete. 

Hurst left, he admitted in his final press conference that he had assembled the squad, and perhaps they were not as good as he thought they were. 

The fact he was so sacked without a replacement being lined up was also costly - Town went and lost to relegation rivals Burton Albion the week after his sacking without having a new man in the dugout. 

Gareth Ainsworth has come in since. His first month was a rollercoaster, they beat the best team in the league during his first game - which is without doubt the high point of the season. 

But then two even more disappointing results followed as they were humbled 4-1 by Cambridge and then Wycombe. 

Since then, the work on the training ground the new boss has done with his players has shone through. 

They are improved, and in the form table since his appointment, they sit 16th having taken nine points from nine games. 

They have scored in every game aside from their last under the former Wycombe man, and their goal difference is improved too. 

January is an important month, and the fact the game against Huddersfield this weekend was postponed will have some positives and some negatives. 

Firstly, the Terriers have not lost since October, and they have been in great form so it might be a good time to avoid them. 

Any additions and tweaks to the squad Ainsworth makes this window will be able to play when the fixture is replayed, and you would hope these changes will make Shrewsbury better. 

The only drawback is that they were on the back of a midweek away game, and Salop could have taken some advantage of their fatigue. 

Either way, Shrews are improved under Ainsworth, but if you were a betting man, you would not back them to stay up - not with the gap as wide as it is - it feels like they have too much to do. 

But if anyone can keep Town up this season, Ainsworth feels like the man.