With Blues taking a large away following just 40 odd miles down the road, there was a calm, collected and jolly atmosphere on the sunny evening just gone.
But the travelling support or the weather didn’t inspire the Blues team to victory in what could be described as a far from adequate away performance.
Within the first half of the first half Blues were 2-0 down to strikes from Taylor and Bradshaw (8,11th). A long ball down the left channel saw cut inside and fire low past Doyle, all behind the back line.
The second goal was some smart play on the right hand side, getting into the box before Bradshaw was teed up for a close range goal simply slide into the net.
Blues first half got slightly better from then on, a few opportunities in the Shrewsbury’s half but nothing really clear cut, as Blues played through the middle quite often and it really wasn’t working.
The second half came and Blues were a lot wider, which actually made the middle game much easier to play with all the added space. Green’s deflected 20 yard strike flew into the goal and set Blues on their way.
It was then Chris Burke who picked up a lose ball from green near the edge of the area, he turned onto his left and let it fly, curling into the far corner. A just reward for another great performance from him.
The chances dried up after that, Burke carried on threatening from the right hand side but was often without help, with it arriving in the box too late.
The Shrewsbury caught blues out, a couple of minutes where some quick direct play really highlighted the Blues back lines lack on concentration and communication. They had failed to track their runners all night. Parry got in behind and lifted the ball over Doyle for a lovely goal.
Then Shrewsbury’s Jones wrapped it up two minutes later, finding himself with plenty of space in the box and he didn’t need asking twice to convert.
Player Ratings
Doyle
Little
Robinson
Burn
Davis (Hancox 63)
Allan (Reilly 79)
Adeyemi (Higgins 79)
Shinnie (Ferguson 63)
Burke
Green (McGurk 79)
Elliot
Randolph
Eardley