Crewe 0-0 Shrewsbury - Report

A fourth League One clean sheet on the spin was enough for Steve Cotterill's men to claim a point in a clash not short on incidents on goal but lacking in a killer touch.

Town, roared on by a superb following of 1,454 fans at the nearby Railwaymen, forged the contest's best openings and almost won it late on through defenders Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Matty Pennington.

Elliott Bennett, who had an excellent game, also went close for Salop, as did Daniel Udoh. Josh Vela was again a star performer for Shrewsbury.

Shrews can feel hard done by a scrappy third-minute effort being ruled out for an alleged foul, according to referee Gavin Ward. Replays looked very soft.

Crewe had their moments but Marko Marosi's best save came early on from Chris Long.

The visitors were disappointed not to take all three points against lowly Crewe, who have improved of late, and reward their vociferous following.

But they were still cheered off by the fans packed into the Ice Cream Van Stand as Salop responded from their FA Cup third round defeat at Liverpool last Sunday by going unbeaten in five with the stalemate - just their second goalless draw of the season after the same result against Accrington in late December.

The fixture marked the first in a run of five games against sides below them in League One for Town, who next up welcome 17th-placed Bolton to Montgomery Waters Meadow.

Cotterill, unsurprisingly, named an unchanged starting XI for the fifth consecutive fixture.

Only Liverpool have beaten his side in that time as Town and their large following made the short trip to Cheshire in a bid to continue their fine run of League One form.

Saikou Janneh, who made a lively cameo at Anfield, made the bench in the league for the first time for Town and was joined by Tom Bloxham, back available in League One after his suspension. Neither arrived from the bench as Cotterill neglected to make any changes.

Anticipation built all week ahead of one of Shrewsbury's shorter League One trips after the dust had settled on the Liverpool memories.

Salop sold out their initial allocation of just over 1,000 fans at Gresty Road before another 250 were swiftly snatched up.

And the away fans, many arriving by train just nextdoor, began packing the Ice Cream Van away stand an hour before kick-off. As the hundreds filled the pitchside stand ahead of kick-off the decibel levels raised - with Shrews fans answering the requests from Cotterill and Aaron Wilbraham.

David Artell's improving hosts went into the contest in high spirits after a run of four wins from seven games, including Wednesday's impressive 2-1 effort over Charlton in Cheshire.

That run had lifted them to 22nd in League One ahead of kick-off, still four points from safety, but with renewed hope of survival.

Artell made two changes from the midweek success, as Oli Finney and skipper Luke Murphy came in for Zak Williams and Scott Robertson.

Shrews, roared on by a vociferous following, could hardly have started any brighter. They forced an early third-minute corner and Bennett's left-sided delivery was flapped at by goalkeeper David Richards before a mixture of Ebanks-Landell and a red shirt bundled in at the back post for what would have been an own goal.

Championship referee Gavin Ward, who was on the spot, was quick to blow up for a foul, which looked soft live and on video replay appeared non-existent.

Crewe found their feet having almost fallen behind, though the hosts were given a helping hand by Town.

Pennington was indebted to his goalkeeper Marosi after a loose pass was intercepted by Finney, whose neat through ball released Long. The striker, with the angle narrowing, saw his drilled low strike kept out by the Slovak's outstretched leg.

A belated offside flag was raised by the time Crewe buried the rebound. Neither effort would have counted.

Bennett and Luke Leahy were perhaps fortunate to escape early cautions for strong challenges. Early Crewe substitute Regan Griffiths, on for the injured Murphy, was then booked for a tug on Udoh.

The busy Long thrashed a long-range strike wide for the hosts before Salop forced a couple of promising openings.

First the tireless Udoh, who the Alex backline struggled to deal with, powered a header on for partner Ryan Bowman, who had space in front of him.

Bowman charged forwards, with runners either side of him, he steadied himself before deciding to shoot early with his weaker left foot. The effort dragged wide across goal as Josh Vela and others looked for a pass.

Udoh then helped it wide to Ogbeta whose dangerous low cross was this time well claimed by Richards.

Porter's stooped header from Long's looped cross was easy for Marosi after half hour but the final 15 minutes of an entertaining half belonged almost entirely to Shrewsbury, who banged the door to no avail.

Vela's influence in the contest grew as the midfielder caused Crewe no end of issues with his driving runs from midfield. He linked with Ebanks-Landell on the right side before driving in on his left foot - in a carbon copy of his Fleetwood goal on Boxing Day.

A deflected strike dropped into the path of Bennett on the other side of the penalty area and his volley was parried wide by the busy Richards.

Crewe did have a moment to shout about as Mandron and Tom Lowery combined well for the latter to find Finney with a low cross from the right. Finney steadied himself in the box akin to Liverpool's Kaide Gordon for the equaliser last Sunday, before his fierce goalbound shot was crucially blocked by Bennett, who very much took one for the team.

But Cotterill's men were in the ascendency and didn't want the half to end. First Bowman back-heeled a cute effort into the near side netting from Ogbeta's cross after more good Vela work.

Then, in stoppage time, Bennett climbed to nod down David Davis' sweeping diagonal ball for Udoh in the box. The Town frontman spun expertly and poked a left-footed strike agonizingly six inches wide of the left post.

The interval appeared to stunt Town's progress slightly. Crewe started the second period the brighter and challenged the Shrews backline to deal with balls into their box, most of which were cleared.

A penalty appeal was correctly waved away as Long went down in the vicinity of Davis before, from a half-cleared free-kick, Callum Ainley dragged wide of the left post.

The visitors looked lethargic on the hour, with more required in attack.

They responded. From a Leahy corner from the right, the visitors almost bundled in an initial close-range header before the ball dropped to Bennett amid a sea of bodies. His driven low strike looked destined for the bottom corner until it cannoned off a red shirt.

By the midway point of the second half it was Cotterill's men asking all the questions again, with the contest still on a knife-edge, mixed in with patches of scrappy play.

Cotterill and opposite number Artell both refused to turn to their options from the bench as the contest entered its final 10 minutes. The second period had been devoid of the goalmouth incidents the first half enjoyed.

But the final 10 minutes really clicked into gear and it was Shrewsbury who went a whisker from nicking maximum points on a couple of occasions.

First Richards pulled out the save of the afternoon to fingertip over Pennington's looping header from Leahy's corner.

Then Salop almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a magical late winner.

Bennett, who was excellent, delivered one of the finest crosses of the season, a driven efforts that picked out Ebanks-Landell's back-post run and the skipper flung himself for the ball - his diving header arrowing just over the crossbar.

That was to be the final incident on goal. Cotterill opted against introducing any of his back-up options from the bench, as solid Town settled for another game unbeaten and another welcome clean sheet.

TEAMS

Shrewsbury Town (3-5-2): Marosi; Pennington, Ebanks-Landell (c), Nurse; Bennett, Davis, Leahy, Vela, Ogbeta; Bowman, Udoh.

Subs not used: Burgoyne, Pierre, Daniels, Janneh, Pyke, Bloxham, Cosgrove.

Crewe Alexandra (5-3-2): Richards; Mandron, Offord, Sass-Davis, Johnson; Ainley (Lundstram, 82), Lowery, Murphy (c) (Griffiths, 14), Finney; Porter, Long (Onyeka, 85).

Subs not used: Jaaskelainen, Lawton, Salisbury, Tabiner.

Attendance: 5,587 (1,454 Shrewsbury fans)

Referee: Gavin Ward