Fleetwood Town secured all three points and a clean sheet in their Sky Bet League One clash against Shrewsbury Town at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Goals from Wes Burns and Kyle Vassell means Fleetwood travel back to Lancashire with maximum points in what was a comfortable win for Simon Grayson’s side in Shropshire.
Burns opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and, halfway through the second period, Vassell doubled the lead leaving the hosts a mountain to climb which they couldn’t react and Fleetwood ride out winners.
It was a bright start from the Cod Army, indulging inpatient build-up play in the opening ten minutes as they pressed the hosts in their own half alongside keeping the ball nicely in possession but were yet to test Shrewsbury’s defensive area.
It was Shrewsbury who opened up the chances for the afternoon where the first full-chance fell kindly in the box for Josh Vela who looked to slot it past Alex Cairns from a few yards, but the Fleetwood goalkeeper was equal to the chance. Shrewsbury’s corner which followed was cleared quite a distance from Ged Garner.
Momentum followed the hosts as Curtis Main tried to find Shaun Whalley behind Town’s defensive lines but again it was quick reactions by Cairns to match the idea.
Just short of the 20-minute mark, Danny Andrew picks up a loose ball from 25 yards but strikes the ball just over the bar.
A few successive chances followed for the visitors but nothing really testing of Matija Sarkic in the Shrewsbury goal.
With half an hour played, an effort almost identical to his previous effort on goal, Andrew strikes the ball from a distance but this time it does test Sarkic between the sticks as he parried the effort away from goal.
With not long to go until half-time, the game started to open up as Main drives deep into Fleetwood’s half, but Callum Camps follows his run and makes an important sliding tackle to deny any attack.
A counterattack came from Shrewsbury as Shaun Whalley drives forward with the ball and struck his effort with good technique, but Cairns was equal to it.
Right on the half-way mark, the deadlock was broken, and it was in the Cod Army’s favour - Burns picking the ball up deep in his own half, leading the attack with the ball, then unchallenged he pulled the trigger 25-yards from goal and the strike nestled into the back of the net.
Five minutes into the second period and both sides experiencing an equal share of possession as they looked to get their own footholds on the game.
Harry Chapman’s ambitious free-kick from 30 yards out was the first time Cairns was tested in the second period but in the end, it was saved and smothered by Fleetwood’s number one- Cairns was fouled in the process but Fleetwood were given the free-kick and a chance to reset.
With twenty to go, Town’s lead was doubled thanks to an emphatic strike twelve yards out from Vassell - Garner was the first to react to Shrewsbury’s clearance as he brought the ball forward, plays it into the box to Vassell whose touch out his feet allowed him a yard of space to put his foot through the ball and it was sent into the back of the net.
Not long after Town’s second, with confidence in abundance, Garner tried a cheeky chip over Sarkic from the edge of the box, the ‘keeper was scrambling backwards but thankfully for the hosts, it went over the bar.
With a few chances from the hosts in the hope of a reaction, Shrewsbury fill the Cod Army’s box during set-pieces but nothing tests Cairns. The game then wound down at the end, as Fleetwood secured all three points.
Town XI: Cairns (GK), Andrew, Connolly (C), Burns (Holgate 90+2'), Camps, Rossiter, Vassell (Madden 77’), Batty (Finley 87’), Garner (Saunders 77’), Hill, Rydel (Donacien 77’).
Shrewsbury XI: Sarkic (GK), Williams, Whalley, Vela, Ogbeta, Main (Pyke 75’), Daniels (Goss 45’), Ebanks-Landell (C), Davis (Edwards 75’), Pennington (Walker 68’), Chapman (Udoh 75’)