Fleetwood Town picked up all three points on Saturday afternoon, after a 3-0 win over Shrewsbury Town at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
In a game that saw Shrewsbury enjoy plenty of possession in the first half, it was Town who took the lead through Jimmy Dunne, who nodded home his second goal of the season from close range.
Josh Morris doubled Fleetwood’s lead with an effort from two-yards after he was teed up by Lewie Coyle just before the hour mark. Paddy Madden made it three late in the game to finish off the afternoon in Shropshire.
It was a great start for the host as Sean Goss nearly caught Alex Cairns out from 25 yards. The midfielder saw his effort tipped over the bar out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Ebanks-Landell headed the ball over for a goal-kick.
With Sam Ricketts’ side playing three at the back and five in midfield, the Shrews were able to knock the ball around well. With the side showing patience in their build-up play, Donald Love thought he had found Jason Cummings with a first-time cross but the forward failed to make contact on Love’s delivery.
Midway through the first half, Callum Lang managed to beat Harry Souttar on the right flank, and when he did, he found Ryan Giles – whose effort from 20 yards was fired over the bar.
With Fleetwood’s first opportunity of the match, defender Dunne punished Shrewsbury for their poor marking after Paul Coutts’ in-swinging corner found the Burnley loanee at the far post. He headed past Max O’Leary, onto the bar and down into the net.
Cummings – just like his teammate Goss – tried to catch out Cairns with a long-range effort. The goalkeeper did scamper back towards his goal line, however, he was able to watch the ball sail over the crossbar.
The second half started just like the first. Ricketts’ side were the side on top with Fleetwood waiting for the right moment to pounce.
On the hour mark, Town did pounce! Morris doubled the Cod Army’s lead after full-back Lewie Coyle picked out the forward inside the penalty area to tap home his fourth of the season.
Coutts nearly got on the scoresheet as a well-worked corner found the captain on the edge of the box. His curling effort narrowly went past the right-hand post.
Madden – who replaced Morris in the 75th minute – did make it three with a volley from 18-yards out. The Irishman was calm and composed has he chested the ball down before hitting it across goal and into the top corner.
Three points did go Fleetwood’s way, and as stated earlier, it was the perfect away performance from Joey Barton and his Cod Army.
Shrewsbury XI: O’Leary (GK), Williams (Udoh 70’), Beckles, Norburn ©, Lang, Giles, Love, Goss, Ebanks-Landell (Pierre 45+1’), Laurent, Cummings (Whalley 60’)
Subs not used: Murphy (GK), Edwards, Walker, Thompson
Town XI: Cairns (GK), Coyle, Souttar, Dunne, Andrew, Coutts ©, Rossiter, Dempsey (Hunter 87’), Burns, Evans, Morris (Madden 75’)
Subs not used: Gilks (GK), Clarke, Biggins, Sowerby, Mooney