Swindon Town were unable to record a second consecutive victory, as Harrison Chapman’s earned Shrewsbury Town a 1-0 win at the County Ground.
Chapman’s half volley from 25 yards was enough to separate the two sides in what was a very subdued affair, devoid of chances.
Pitman came close on two occasions for the home side with two headers which only just sailed over the cross bar.
Aside from those efforts Shrewsbury were able to hold on for the victory despite some late Town pressure.
First-half:
A clash of heads between Shrewsbury defenders Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Ro-Shaun Williams briefly brought a stoppage to proceedings in the opening two minutes of the contest.
On the restart, Town looked very dangerous and created the first real chance of the game courtesy of Jordan Lyden’s whipped cross finding Brett Pitman, but the striker could not keep his header down.
The following quarter of an hour was very mute and ineffective, with both sides struggling to find the final ball to create a chance.
But the game was suddenly brought to life when a lofted ball to Curtis Main was chested down into the path of Harrison Chapman, and the midfielder took one touch and hit a half-volley off the inside of the post from 25 yards.
Second-half:
Town created the first chance of the second-half with a well-executed and arranged free-kick set-piece.
Matty Palmer’s floated free kick accurately found Brett Pitman whose nodded header to the back post fell beautifully into the path of the on-rushing Jack Payne, but the midfielder could not quite divert the chance past Matija Sarkic who covered his angles well.
Shrewsbury began to fall deeper with the intention of protecting their lead, and while it cut out any space in behind, it did afford the Town full backs with more space to play in.
Dominic Thompson, who has a tendency of creating and making assists almost added another one to his chart sheet, with a beautiful out swinging cross finding Pitman once again, but the Town number eight’s header was slightly too high again.
Pitman was a constant menace in the box and always seemed to be in acres of space against the Shrewsbury back three.
A goalmouth scramble after a Matty Palmer free kick fell to Pitman once more, but the ball came out of nowhere and the purchase on his shot was not as clean as he would have hoped.
The lads travel to Portsmouth on Tuesday night to face Kenny Jackett's side and will be hoping for a resilient away performance like those of Ipswich and Charlton.
