Shrewsbury Town debrief: Are Salop’s survival chances over?

Even victory would not have guaranteed their League One survival this term, but it would have reduced the gap to 20th place to five points.  

With 11 third-tier games remaining this season, even if they had closed it, it would have still felt like a stretch to stay up, but with the 0-0 draw the gap to Rovers remains at eight points. Even the most optimistic Salop fan would admit they are on the brink. 

 Shrewsbury find themselves in this position not because of the events that unfolded at the Croud Meadow on Tuesday night, but because of what has happened over the last seven months, and the league table does not lie - they have not been good enough. 

There has been immeasurable improvement under Gareth Ainsworth since he arrived at the end of November. But as it has so often been written in these pages, the damage was done well before that. Despite a comeback and an upturn, the head coach was given too hard of a job. 

It was rather ironic, that on Pancake Day, Town and Bristol Rovers dished up a flat game at the bottom of League One. 

It is quite likely this fixture could be a League Two clash next season. Burton Albion are hunting down the Gas, and from their performance on Tuesday, Inigo Calderon’s side looked very poor. 

Did Shrewsbury deserve to win the game against Rovers? Probably not. The point, while it was not what Town were searching for, was a fair reflection of the game. 

Did Town arguably have the better chances in the match? Yes, they did. 

They went close in the first half through Funso Ojo and David Wheeler, who was making his first start since arriving at the club a couple of weeks ago. 

They both forced Jed Ward to make good saves in the opening 45 minutes in what was a low-quality affair. 

Part of that could be down to the fact both sets of players would have been well aware of what was at stake, and often, in a similar way to cup finals, six-pointers can be cagey affairs. 

Ainsworth touched on that after the game. He said it felt like ‘Neither side wanted to lose.’ 

You cannot blame them for that, but Shrewsbury needed the win more. Ultimately, the visitors are three points clear of the bottom four and have a game in hand. They control all the cards, so it was up to Salop to set the tempo of the match. 

They came on strong in the last 20 minutes, and they were the team, if any, that was most likely to get the three points, but until that moment, they did not do enough. 

Callum Stewart made another bright cameo. He hit the outside of the post with his first touch after coming on as a substitute - the youngster had other good moments too. 

While Shrewsbury’s season has been difficult, some things are more important than football, and there was a beautiful moment in the 71st minute. 

The Bristol Rovers captain, James Wilson, kicked the ball out, and the whole stadium stood and applauded in memory of Pam Coe, a much-loved staff member, who sadly passed away last week. 

She was a wonderful woman, and she will be missed by all.