Gillingham 2 Shrewsbury Town 0 – Lewis Cox's player ratings

Sam Ricketts' men, now six unbeaten in League One, lost further ground on their play-off chasing rivals on a disappointing evening in Kent.

Town reporter Lewis Cox has a look at how the visitors got on.

Max O'Leary - He has enjoyed better days in Town colours this season. Won't want to see the first goal again after not clearing with his punch before Stuart O'Keefe's shot wriggled through although made a decent stop from John Akinde afterwards. Seemed riled by home crowd late on but will learn from that. 5

Omar Beckles - A mixed bag for the returning centre-half, including for Ro-Shaun Williams. Beckles had a nervy start with a couple of unconvincing touches and clearances before finding himself as a makeshift forward for the final 15 minutes as Ricketts looked to adapt to the style. 5

Ethan Ebanks-Landell - An uncharacteristically wobbly display from the captain for the evening. He had already made a couple of blunders - and wasn't alone in defence - before struggling to keep pace with big Akinde and bringing the forward down for Gills' penalty. 5

Aaron Pierre - Even Pierre's usual coolness personified did not help Ricketts' men at Priestfield. The Grenada skipper was off-colour as a number of touches and passes failed to find their targets. Clearances were regularly blocked down on a sluggish evening. Shot narrowly wide late on. 5

Ryan Sears - Back in the team after his return from injury a couple of weeks ago and did a solid enough job for the visitors without pulling off the spectacular. Had some decent moments where he worked tirelessly to win the ball but a couple of times it got away from him. 6

Brad Walker - A rare league start for the back-up midfielder who was another to suffer a mixed bag. His passing range is generally good and a couple of short and long balls caught the eye as Walker got his side into a couple of good positions but he was part of a midfield played around all too easily. 6

Josh Laurent - Like the team as a whole it would always be difficult to reach the extremely high standards set against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Laurent struggled, particularly in a very quiet first half. He improved after the break and was Shrews best goal threat, including hitting the post and a low shot wide. 6

Sam Hart - A Shrewsbury debut for the left wing-back signed on loan from Blackburn and he had some good moments although not as many as he'd have liked. Immediately obvious he likes to run with the ball and provided some good crosses but faded a little. 6

Shaun Whalley - Had Town's one and only shot on target, an 87th-minute effort at the far post cleared off the line by Max Ehmer. Headed over early on in Town's best moment of a poor first half but that aside his performance lacked the usual spark and Shrews suffered without Whalley's impact. 5

Daniel Udoh - With Whalley on the right of a front three and Lang on the left the role of central striker went to Udoh and the former Telford man endured a challenging evening against wily centre-halves. Crossed for Whalley to head over and was a willing runner but the defence got the better of him. 5

Callum Lang - One of his quieter performances since checking in on loan from Wigan may have been because he was in a slightly more unfamiliar left forward role but very little came off for Lang on an evening to forget. He was brought off early and showed frustration at not playing more than 55 minutes. 5

Substitutes:

Dave Edwards (Lang, 55) - Had long enough to make an impact but couldn't get on the ball in the dangerous areas required. 5

Jason Cummings (Udoh, 55) - Saw some of the ball but it seemed to be in areas Town didn't want him to have it. The Cup hero couldn't spark his side this time. 5

Donald Love (Sears, 65) - Some fresh legs after the hour. Got stuck in but couldn't affect things. 5

Subs not used: Murphy, Williams, Golbourne, Goss.