Paul Simpson couldn't hide his disappointment after this afternoon's 3-1 defeat at relegation threatened Mansfield. Marc Pugh had given Town the perfect start after a goal inside two minutes but a hat-trick from ace marksman Michael Boulding gave the home side a vital three points.

"It just wasn't good enough today," said a crest-fallen Simpson. "I've learnt a lot about the players today. We got off to a great start with Pughy's goal albeit through a goalkeeping error. Marc's chanced his arm with the shot but I think their keeper would accept it was a mistake on his part. From that point we treated it like game over and thought we could just relax and unfortunately you can't do that in any game of football.

"Credit to Mansfield they stuck at it. They were determined and they battled. They've got a proper goalscorer in Boulding who stuck three away but most of what I've learned about the players today has been disappointing.

"I don't think our defending was as bad as it was at Chesterfield, but right through the team today we were a bit of a shambles in the first half and there was no real desire to want to go and affect the game. We didn't get hold of the ball and we didn't get hold of their centre-forwards. In the second half we had a bit more of a go and had two really good chances to get ourselves back into it and probably should have done. But the keeper made a great save off Madjo with his legs, although you have to take those chances when you get them. What I've seen over those 90 minutes is probably the reason why we've had to spend the later part of the season scrapping around at the foot of the table."

Shrewsbury's preparations were affected five minutes before kick-off when captain Ben Davies suffered spasms in his back and was withdrawn.

"That was unfortunate but we will never know if we would have done any better if Ben had been fit or not," said Simpson. "It is disrupting but he was very uncomfortable with it and couldn't run so we had to change it. I don't think we should use it as an excuse though. Pugh can play out wide and James Constable can play down the middle so it shouldn't have been too much of an issue. We should have made more of the situation but we haven't done that unfortunately.

"Dave Hibbert picked up a knock in the first half from a stray elbow which required five stitches in his eyelid. The amount of local anaesthetic used by the doctor at half-time made him a little groggy though, and he was having trouble seeing out of his eye as the eyelid was closing, so we took him off for his own safety even though he wanted to carry on.

"But Guy (Madjo) did well when he came on. He was a handful and looked like he wanted to go and work hard. Chris Humphrey did alright when he came on but apart from that I think I'd struggle to find any positives. We haven't lost as individuals - we've lost as a team. We got off to a great start but weren't right for the rest of the half and that's what disappoints me and like I said earlier, that's probably the reason why we're down at the bottom."

Chester are next up for Town and the Deva Stadium outfit are also perilously close to the relegation places so Simpson expects a tough game in a week's time.

"They are desperate for a result but we're at home and I want us to put on a show for our fans. We've had another fantastic following today and they stuck with us throughout even though it would have been easy to be over-critical towards the players at the end. Today we've let Mansfield off the hook; we must make sure we don't let Chester off next week."

Martin Wild