Shrewsbury Town 1 Harrogate Town 0: Ten-man Sulphurites suffer another damaging defeat

Hampered massively by the sending off of Jack Evans early in the second half, the sorry Sulphurites went down 1-0 at fellow strugglers Shrewsbury, a side who had failed to win any of their previous eight league matches.

That result leaves Simon Weaver’s team without a victory in 16 attempts and second from bottom of the table, though they somehow remain just a single point from safety after results elsewhere went their way.

The bad news is that Shrewsbury, who began the day just a point ahead of Town, now sit four points ahead of them, with a game in hand.

There was little between the sides during a rather uneventful opening half at New Meadow, though any hopes Harrogate had of going on to try and win the game after the interval were dented massively by the dismissal of Evans for a second bookable offence.

The Shrews went on to capitalise on their numerical advantage and enjoyed a concerted spell of pressure before visiting goalkeeper Henry Gray was beaten at his near post by a 62nd-minute Taylor Perry strike from outside the box that he should have kept out.

Although the Sulphurites grafted hard with 10 men, they didn’t really look like scoring until the belated introduction of in-form striker Tom Cursons, who struck the cross-bar late on after being set up by Jack Muldoon.

Quite why a man who had found the net in each of his last two appearances and is the only player to have scored goals in open play in any of Town’s previous nine games in all competitions was dropped is a question that only the club’s management team can answer – and a baffling decision that they will presumably regret.

But, in his post-match press conference, assistant manager Paul Thirlwell – standing in for Weaver following his red card after the final whistle – said that he felt the loss of Evans for preventing Shrewsbury from taking a throw-in was the key factor in Saturday’s defeat.

“In terms of a first-half performance away from home, we were more than happy with it,” he told BBC Radio York. “We came out for the second half and naturally you want to have more moments in the game as it goes on.

"We felt that we were more than capable of that, but the game changes on a decision, which I think is not the right one, to word it in a certain way that doesn’t get me into trouble.

"In any game of football, if you get a man sent off, it changes the tide and Shrewsbury got a boost from that which I didn’t think they had prior.

"Naturally, they are then going to have a few moments, and they got themselves in front, but I have to say that I thought that our lads were outstanding, particularly with 10 men. I thought that we kept going and put a right shift in for the manager and the supporters.”

Already on a booking for a poor early challenge, Evans’ sending off came after he was shown a second yellow card by referee Peter Wright in the 51st minute.

Having picked up the ball up when it went out for a throw-in, Town’s left wing-back tossed it behind him as he ran to get back into position, presenting a pedant of a match official the opportunity to spoil what had been a reasonably even contest between two poor sides until that point.

And, having seen a number of poor refereeing decisions cost them dearly in games against Oldham, Notts County and Accrington in recent months, Thirlwell went on to say that ending up on the wrong end of another controversial call was hard to take.

“We are bitterly disappointed,” the former Sunderland midfielder added. “Nobody wants to hear us complaining about decisions, but the facts are the facts.

"Let’s be honest, the dynamic of the game completely changes with that decision.

"Everyone can have a story to tell, but there have been some moments this season where you are left scratching your head, and that was certainly one on Saturday.

"We have got to look at ourselves, and we do every week, we look at how we can be better, and you just hope that other people do the same.”