Town take the 3 points thanks to a Pierre goal against 10 men Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers – 1 Scott Davies ©, 3 Liam Ridehalgh, 6 Manny Monthe, 7 Kieron Morris (OFF 79), 8 Darren Potter (OFF 59), 9 Paul Mullin, 11 Connor Jennings, 14 Jake Caprice, 28 Ollie Banks (OFF 74), 35 Neil Danns, 45 Stefan Payne. SUBS – 25 Luke Pilling, 18 Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (ON 79), 19 Jordan Ponticelli, 20 Harvey Gilmour (ON 59), 23 Corey Blackett-Taylor (ON 74), 29 Danny Walker-Rice, 33 Cameron Borthwick-Jackson
Shrewsbury Town – 25 Max O'Leary, 2 Aaron Pierre, 5 Ro-Shaun Williams, 6 Omar Beckles, 8 Ollie Norburn © (OFF 90+1), 9 Callum Lang (OFF 70), 11 Ryan Giles, 17 Donald Love, 22 Sean Goss, 23 Daniel Udoh (OFF 82), 28 Josh Laurent. SUBS – 1 Joe Murphy, 4 Dave Edwards, 7 Shaun Whalley, 10 Fejiri Okenabirhie (ON 70), 15 Brad Walker (ON 90+1), 21 Louis Thompson (ON 82), 35 Jason Cummings
Referee – Craig Hicks
Assistant Referees – Joe Simpson and Peter Gooch
Fourth Official – Billy Smallwood
Attendance: 7,314 (948 Town fans)
Aaron Pierre comes in for injured Ethan Ebanks-Landell while Dan Udoh starts over Jason Cummings. However, Town are unchanged from last week's game against Fleetwood. Ollie Norburn played against his former club.
An excellent strike from Aaron Pierre that took a touch from Callum Lang on the line saw Town a goal up as they went in for half-time. The first half ended with some late drama as Tranmere saw themselves go down to 10 men for the remaining 45 minutes as Connor Jennings was shown a second yellow for a challenge on Dan Udoh.
Within the first five minutes, Ryan Giles forced a Tranmere corner after blocking a cross from deep on the right. Ollie Banks found Liam Ridehalgh at the back-post, but the ball sailed wide of Max O'Leary's goal. Another corner awarded and this time it found Omar Beckles who headed clear. Another Tranmere corner found themselves in trouble as Callum Lang was fouled on O'Leary's by-line.
Town found themselves pressing high and causing trouble to win back possession. Laurent, Lang and Udoh surrounded Manny Monthe in order to pinch the ball back from him. Laurent produced a great curling cross into Lang, but Tranmere managed to clear the ball for a Town corner. Up stepped Sean Goss, he crossed a fantastic ball in and Udoh attempted to bring it down with his back towards goal, however, the ball was just too wide for his stretch. Tranmere broke from the corner and played the ball into Jennings who shot with his back towards goal forcing O'Leary to produce a great save.
A great effort came from Donald Love down the right after finding Captain Norburn in the middle. Norburn produced a long ball over to Giles on the left and Giles crossed in the ball, landing on Lang's head perfectly but Lang just couldn't convert it into Davies' goal.
Town created many chances within the first half and were unfortunate not to put any away. Another great opportunity from Norburn as he ran at Tranmere's backline and sweetly struck a shot at Davies. Davies spilled the ball which allowed Lang to pounce, but Davies managed to pull off a double save and deny both, Lang and Norburn.
Jennings received his first yellow card just shy of the 20-minute mark after a horrendous challenge on Love down the right, right outside of Town's dugout.
Minutes later, Town's well-worked play turned into a fantastic goal. A long ball was delivered into Tranmere's box, and Pierre held his ground, bought the ball down, took a touch and fired a shot towards the back post. It looked like Lang got the last touch before it was in the back of Davies' net.
Tranmere had their chances too within the first half, forcing O'Leary to make a second save of the game. Tranmere broke after Davies produced a long ball forward, striker Stefan Payne controlled the ball on the edge of the box and hit a shot with his back towards goal forcing O'Leary to produce another fantastic save.
Captain fantastic Norburn played a class ball out to Love on the right-wing, Love hit a cross towards Lang that looked to be landing perfectly on his head, but Davies was quick off his line in order to collect the ball.
Three minutes were added on in the first half which saw late drama as Jennings received his second yellow card after a naughty challenge on Udoh. Tranmere played the second 45 minutes with only ten men.
Half-time: Tranmere 0 – 1 Shrewsbury
Town came out in the second half, fierce and full of energy in order to double the scoreline. Laurent had a great shot after being in acres of space, but his shot was well over Davies' bar.
Great play was produced from Town as Norburn played into Giles, Giles played back to Norburn and Norburn played through Udoh. Udoh shot, and it was blocked. Town managed to win the ball back in the middle of the park. Giles, with the ball down the middle, had Lang to his right and Udoh to his left, Giles took it himself and fired over Davies' bar.
Town were onto during the second half. Creating good chances and many good phases of play. Town kept possession, switched play when they needed too and overall, frustrated Tranmere.
Love had a cross blocked that forced another Town corner in the game. Goss crossed the ball in, it landed with Pierre at the back post and Pierre miss-kicked the first chance. His second chance was cleared off the line by Tranmere bodies. Pierre was so unlucky not to double the scoreline.
Minutes later, Lang had the confidence to smash a shot from 40-yards-out as he watched his shot sail inches wide of Davies' top right-hand corner. Lang left Davies for dead as he was unlucky not to have buried it.
Town's first substitute of the game came in the 70th minute as Fejiri Okenabirhie replaced Lang. Fey returns to Town's bench after a few weeks out on the sidelines due to injury.
Giles forced Jake Caprice into conceding another corner for Town. Goss's corner fell sweetly for Omar Beckles who struck a volley towards Davies' front post, but Davies got there to deny Beckles what would have been a brilliant goal.
A quick-thinking free-kick from Norburn found Love in acres of space down the right-wing, Love put in a low, hard-driven cross that found Norburn. Norburn connected well with the cross and ended up striking the ball at the post. Norburn was unlucky to not double Town's lead.
Fey came on and created all kinds of trouble for Tranmere's defence and defensive midfield. Fey chased down long balls and linked up well Udoh for the time that they spent together on the pitch.
With just under 10 minutes of play remaining, Sam made his second change of the game. Louis Thompson replaced Dan Udoh. Thompson had a great chance after a well-worked cross came floating in, Thompson just couldn't get the right connection on the ball, and it went wide of Davies' net.
Sam made his third and final change shortly after the fourth official put up extra time. Brad Walker replaced captain Norburn. Walker's first touch saw him give away a Tranmere free kick in a dangerous area. Caprice's effort was well over O'Leary's bar.
Tranmere weren't giving up easily. A great last-ditch save by O'Leary to deny Neil Danns a late equaliser after he got down low to his right to stop it and quickly pounced on the ball afterwards.
Full-time: Tranmere 0 – 1 Shrewsbury