Shrewsbury 0 Stevenage 1 - Report
Shrewsbury Town fell to another disappointing defeat after a late Jamie Reid goal earned Stevenage a valuable League One victory.
It was Town's sixth loss in their last seven games in what was an awful game in Shropshire with meaningful chances few and far between.
And with the only clear-cut opportunity of the game, Reid raced through and fired beyond a helpless Marko Marosi to give the Boro a vital three points in their hunt for a play-off place.
The stats are not pretty for Shrewsbury as they are not only the lowest scorers in League One, but they are the lowest scorers in the entire football league.
The team were greeted with loud boos at full-time as Salop's miserable form continued and pressure ramped up on Matt Taylor and his coaching staff.
ANALYSIS
Matt Taylor’s side needed a result heading into the game against Stevenage. The last two performances had been good, they had been promising, but Salop are at the point where they need more than just promising displays.
Stevenage had lost to Maidstone United last week – a team that currently plays in the National League South - and they would need a reaction if they were to have hopes of getting into the League One play-off places.
Matt Taylor made three changes to the team that lost against Wrexham in the FA Cup bringing in Jason Sraha, Aaron Pierre and Carl Winchester.
Presumably, Pierre and Sraha were brought in to deal with the direct threat of the visitors who bombarded Salop with long balls in the first half.
It was a dismal first 45 minutes of football, with both sides contributing to the game's lack of quality.
Stevenage loaded the box at any opportunity they could pumping the ball into the Shrews penalty area. In fairness to Dunkley and Pierre, they headed everything away with relative ease.
In terms of goal threat, Jamie Reid fired wide inside the first minute in what was Stevenage's only clear-cut chance of the half.
For Town, it was the skipper Dunkley who went closest when he headered a corner wide.
The game was an eyesore and the referee's half-time whistle was greeted with boos from the home support - they needed to see more from their side after the break.
Aaron Pressley headed Dan Butler's cross tamely at Marko Marosi, and Mal Benning saw his free-kick from distance easily collected by Taye Ashby-Hammond.
The Town head coach went to his bench on the hour mark introducing Roland Idowu, Tom Bayliss and Max Mata - and they did improve things.
Bayliss got into a great position, and when Benning found him with a pullback, he scuffed his effort wide - it rather summed up Town's afternoon to that point.
The visitors had some moments of promise, but they too lacked quality in the final third.
And with just five minutes of normal time remaining Salop went behind as Reid got on the end of Jake Forster-Caskey's through ball and firing past Marosi.
Despite six minutes added on Town never looked like getting back into it.
Teams
Shrews: Marosi, Dunkley, Pierre, Sraha, Feeney, Benning, Winchester, Kenneh, Shipley (Bayliss 60), Sobowale (Idowu 60), Bowman (Mata 60).
Subs: Burgoyne, Anderson, Bennett, Idowu, Bayliss, Mata, Loughran.
Ashby-Hammond, James-Wildin, Butler, Piergianni, Forster-Caskey, Freeman, Vancooten, Burns (Roberts 76), Reid, Pressley (Hemmings 67), Thompon (Thompson 76).
Subs: Mitchell, Sweeney, MaCdonald, List, Roberts, Thompson, Hemmings.
