Exeter City's unbeaten run ends at 8

Match report: Shrewsbury 4 Exeter City 0

Exeter City’s eight-game unbeaten run came to an end at Greenhous Meadow at the hands of a rampant Shrewsbury Town side, who won 4-0 to keep pressure on leaders Burton Albion at the summit of Sky Bet League 2.

Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro had the home side in the ascendency at half-time, and his second was Shrewsbury’s third after James Collins had doubled the lead.

Then sub Tyrone Barnett hammered in a thunderous effort from just inside the area to seal the win in stoppage time.

The pre-match team news saw Scot Bennett replace the injured Jordan Moore-Taylor, and with Jamie McAllister deemed fit enough to start, he was due to start alongside Craig Woodman in the defensive ranks with Alex Nicholls making way.

However it transpired with kick-off that it was in fact Danny Butterfield rather than Woodman that began in a five-man defence.

And Butterfield was called upon early to make an important block with Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro threatening down the right-hand side of the box.

Liam Sercombe then threatened to burst through before a well-timed tackle arrived from Jermaine Grandison, and then a ball over the top from Jamie McAllister was just too long for Graham Cummins to chase and allowed Jayson Leutwiler to come out quickly to collect.

Despite all their possession, the Shrews weren’t finding many openings in the Grecians’ well-drilled defensive line. And at the other end Lee Holmes cut in off the right and fired, and saw his effort twice take deflections, the latter of which was off teammate Cummins on its way behind.

But the breakthrough came at the other end – Jordan Clark had an initial effort which was deflected, but it fell fortuitously into the path of Akpa Akpro who hit home confidently to give the home side an 18th-minute lead.

With the two teams trying to keep the game tight in the difficult windy conditions, the game entered something of a lull while they contested a midfield battle. The best chance fell for Clark, having been teed up by Bobby Grant, but a block came in.

Exeter then began to probe again and Lee Holmes was perhaps a little unfortunate not to be awarded a free-kick when he was taken down just outside the box. And then when the Preston loanee linked up with Ryan Harley outside the area, he forced a fingertip save from Leutwiler with a piledriving effort with his left.

A loose clearance from goalkeeper Leutwiler almost gifted City a way back into the game before the interval – however it didn’t quite stick to Harley’s foot which allowed a challenge to come in before he could get a shot off at an open goal.

Half-time: Shrewsbury Town 1 Exeter City 0