Shrewsbury fell to a 1-0 defeat at Leyton Orient.
A fast-paced start to the match saw Town create a number of decent chances early on with Max Mata twice denied by goalkeeper Sol Brynn. Chey Dunkley and Dan Udoh also went close.
Orient then took the lead against the run of play through Ruel Sortiou.
Salop pushed for an equaliser in the second half but ultimately couldn’t find the goal they deserved.
Team news:
Town remained in their customary 3-5-2 system for the trip to Brisbane Road with Tom Flanagan joining Chey Dunkley and Morgan Feeney in defence.
Mal Benning got the nod at left wing-back with Elliott Bennett on the right. Nohan Kenneh, Carl Winchester and Taylor Perry were the midfield three with Max Mata partnering Dan Udoh in attack.
Leyton Orient lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Joe Pigott and Ruel Sotiriou the front two. Former Town centre-back Omar Beckles started in defence.
Report:
It was Town who flew out of the blocks in East London with Taylor's men creating two glorious opportunities to open the scoring inside the first 10 minutes.
First, Salop were denied by a brilliant double save from goalkeeper Sol Brynn.
The shot-stopper initially did well when, following a corner, he blocked Chey Dunkley's header. But the ball then fell for Mata - with the keeper somehow jumping back to his feet to keep out the striker's shot.
A few minutes later Mata was denied once more when he was slipped in one-on-one. Again, though, Brynn was there to make another excellent stop.
It had been all Town but the hosts got themselves ahead with their first real attack in the 20th minute.
Salop failed to deal with a ball into the box and Ruel Sotiriou was on hand to fire the ball into the roof of the net.
Taylor's men immediately went in search of an equaliser. Perry fired inches over from just outside the box.
Udoh then did brilliantly to turn away from Beckles in the box before seeing a shot deflected inches past the post.
The first opportunity Shrewsbury had in the second period was when Mata hit the byline and tried to pick out Udoh but his cross was cut out by a defender.
Next, Perry ran down the line before finding Ryan Bowman from a cross, but his header was caught by Brynn.
A third successive chance came in Town’s favour as Morgan Feeney’s cross was met by Tom Flanagan, but his head header was again saved by Brynn.
The referee added on six minutes but it was too little too late for Salop who suffered defeat again.
Teams:
Shrewsbury: Marko Marosi; Morgan Feeney (Brandon Fleming 85'), Chey Dunkley, Tom Flanagan, Mal Benning (Joe Anderson 85'), Elliott Bennett; Nohan Kenneh, Carl Winchester (Tom Bayliss 60’), Taylor Perry; Dan Udoh (Kieran Phillips 72’), Max Mata (Ryan Bowman 72’)
Unused substitutes: Harry Burgoyne, Ryan Finnigan
Leyton Orient: Sol Brynn; Tom James, Joe Pigott, Ruel Sotriou, Theo Archibald, Brandon Cooper, George Moncur, Idris El Mizouni, Darren Pratley, Omar Beckles, Jordan Graham
Substitutes: Sam Howes, Dan Happe, Jordan Brown, Aaron Drinan, Shaq Forde, Ethan Galbraith, Rob Hunt
Referee: Lewis Smith
Attendance: 8,001 (618 away fans)
