Shrewsbury Town kicked off the new League One season with a 1-0 win over Cheltenham.
A quiet first half led to an action-packed second half with chances coming for both sides.
Ryan Bowman’s 50th-minute goal turned out to be the winner as he pounced on a mistake by The Robins.
Cheltenham had a chance to equalise through Ben Williams, but Marko Marosi made sure to keep his clean sheet intact on his 100th Salop appearance with a great save.
Town's starting line-up saw four summer signings make their competitive debuts.
In a 3-5-2 formation, Joe Anderson and Morgan Feeney lined up alongside Tom Flanagan in the back three.
There were also two debuts in central midfield where Nohan Kenneh and Taylor Perry partnered Tom Bayliss.
That meant Carl Winchester was deployed at right wing-back with Jordan Shipley on the left. Ryan Bowman and Dan Udoh were the front two.
Cheltenham also lined up in a 3-5-2 system with former Town loanee Rob Street partnering Aidan Keena in attack.
In what was a keenly contested opening half-hour as both teams cancelled each other out, with neither side wanting to give anything away.
Gradually, though, Town began to control proceedings with Taylor's men consistently getting into dangerous areas.
First, a clever ball from Udoh got Kenneh to the byline. He then sent in a dangerous cross that Cheltenham did well to scramble clear.
Then in a similar move, a lovely clipped pass from Feeney got Perry in behind the visitor's defence. He then dinked up a really dangerous cross that a defender again did well to clear.
The biggest chance of the half arrived just past the 40-minute mark when Jordan Shipley drilled the ball across the face of goal. That delivery was met by Udoh who turned it over from close range.
Cheltenham did have a big chance of their own just before half-time as Liam Sercombe’s effort was saved well by Marosi before Morgan Feeney put in a brilliant challenge to prevent Rob Street from putting in the rebound.
A lively start to the second half first saw Bowman go one-on-one with Luke Southwood, but he put his effort wide of the post.
Less than a minute later, Shipley twisted and turned in the box before dinking up a cross.
Cheltenham’s Williams headed it back to goal, but his header was slightly wayward and forced Southwood into a save.
However, he could only parry it as far as Bowman who was on hand to tap it in.
15 minutes later, Williams almost made up for his mistake as he glanced a header to the far post, but Marosi made a great save to deny him.
Udoh almost made it 2-0 to Shrewsbury as Perry played a lovely ball to him only for Southwood to make a fine save at his near post to deny him.
In what was another great moment for Salop, second-year academy scholar Travis Hernes entered the fray for he League One debut in the 80th minute.
11 minutes were added on at the end of the 90, however, Salop saw out the 1-0 win comfortably.
Shrewsbury Town: Marko Marosi; Joe Anderson, Morgan Feeney, Tom Flanagan; Carl Winchester, Nohan Kenneh, Tom Bayliss (Mal Benning), Taylor Perry, Jordan Shipley (Travis Hernes); Ryan Bowman ©, Dan Udoh
Unused Substitutes: Harry Burgoyne, Elliot Thorpe, Jason Sraha, Tunmise Sobowale, Harvey Watts
Cheltenham Town: Luke Southwood; Sean Long, Ben Williams, Tom Bradbury, Lewis Freestone, Liam Sercombe, Aidan Keena, Rob Street, James Olayinka, Liam Smith, Elliot Bonds
Substitutes: Max Harris, Oliver Hammond, Curtis Thompson, Dan Adshead, Ellis Chapman, Grant Horton, Tom King
Ref: Christopher Pollard
Attendance: 6,599 (627)
