Stevenage 2 Shrewsbury 0 - Report

The first half was a physical battle for Shrews who were up against it from the off.

Josh March, Dan Butler and Jake Forster-Caskey all went close before the interval as the home side started brightly.

Taylor Perry hit the bar for Salop in their only real opening before the break.

Carl Piergianni, who had forced Marosi into a save from a set piece in the first half, then cracked the bar moments into the second period.

And just before the hour mark, the visitors got the goal their play had deserved, Aaron Pressley sweeping home.

Town were unable to respond from the setback, and they went further behind three minutes from time when Jamie Reid headed home at the back post.

ANALYSIS

Town boss Matt Taylor named the same starting XI that played against Cheltenham at the Croud Meadow a week ago.

Wing-back Elliott Bennett missed out on the squad altogether after having his appendix out, but he made the bench this time - as did skipper Chey Dunkley.

The hosts had played two games and won two games before Salop's visit, including knocking Watford out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

It was a lively opening to the game with the home side starting the brighter. Marko Marosi sliced a clearance, and it fell to Josh March, who should have scored, but he fired inches over.

Town were sluggish in the opening exchanges. Dan Butler shot from just outside the box, his left-footed effort went narrowly wide of Marosi's post.

The game followed a different pattern to the one at Leeds in midweek and Shrews were off the pace in the opening quarter - their opponents had an extra day's rest.

Perry, after scoring his first Town goal in midweek, went close to opening the scoring with Shrews' first sight at goal.

He caught his shot from distance sweetly and it forced Krisztian Hegyi into a superb save as he tipped it onto the bar.

The home side offered much more of a threat than Cheltenham last week, and they went close again when Jake Forster-Caskey's effort went over Marosi's bar.

Deep into added-on time at the end of the first half, Carl Piergianni headed at Marosi and forced the Town keeper into a smart stop, and it ended all square.

Stevenage continued to threaten and Piergianni hit the bar from a corner just after the re-start.

And their pressure told in the end when they took the lead through Pressley as he converted Luther James-Wildin's cross.

The game continued to be a physical battle, but despite Taylor going to his bench Town struggled to create in the final third.

Three minutes before the end the hosts grabbed another when Reid got the better of Feeney at the back post to head home a corner.

Teams

Shrews: Marosi, Anderson, Flanagan (Bennett 81), Feeney, Shipley, Winchester, Kenneh (Hernes 90), Bayliss (Benning 45), Perry (Dunkley 59), Bowman, Udoh.

Subs: Burgoyne, Dunkley, Bennett, Sraha, Benning, Hernes, Watts.

Stevenage: Heygi, James-Wildin (Smith 70), Butler, Thompson, Piergianni, Forster-Caskey (Thompson 90), Roberts (Freeman 90), Burns, March (Reid 70), Pressley (Macdonald 77), Thompson.

Subs: Ashby-Hammond, Macdonald, Freeman, Smith, Reid, Thompson.