PLYMOUTH STARS ARE IN DEFENCE
JOHN Sheridan reserved special praise for his defence as Plymouth climbed eight places in the table with a fourth home win of the season.
Reuben Reid heaped more away day heartache on Shrewsbury with his sixth goal of the season.
But the victory owed as much to a towering defensive performance from the back four and a string of smart saves by keeper Luke McCormick.
And Sheridan was quick to acknowledge the real stars of the show as Plymouth dug in to survive a second-half bombardment.
The Pilgrims boss said: “I thought the lads did the ugly things really well.
“They put us under pressure but we fought our socks off to get the three points. Everyone played their part.
“Luke McCormick was outstanding but all the back four played well. So did Anthony O’Connor in front of them.
“It’s a funny old league. I think every manager will be saying the same as me in that you don’t want to be up and down – you just want to get that seven out of ten every week. If you do that, you will get out of this division.”
Argyle had a goal disallowed after nine minutes when Reid was judged to have climbed on Mickey Demetriou as he headed home from Carl McHugh’s cross.
Shrewsbury hit back when James Collins wriggled his way into the box before being denied by the legs of McComick.
Both sides continued to create chances, with Bobby Reid’s piledriver pushed away by Jayson Leutwiler, while, at the other end, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro brought a sprawling save from McCormick.
Plymouth broke the deadlock on 33 minutes, Reuben Reid finding a yard of space to head Bobby Reid’s cross past Leutwiler and into the bottom corner.
Josh Ginnelly, 17, was summoned from the bench on the hour and almost set up an equaliser with his first touch.
The winger’s corner was met with a powerful header from Akpa Akpro, but it was brilliantly pushed on to the crossbar by McComick.
Shrewsbury grew in confidence and almost snatched a leveller when Collins latched on to Demetriou’s cross only to be foiled by McCormick.
Plymouth wasted a glorious chance to stretch their lead when Lewis Alessandra robbed Nathaniel Knight-Percival and shot straight at Leutwiler, instead of squaring the ball to the unmarked Reid.
Hopes of a late leveller evaporated when Collins smashed a volley over.
Shrewsbury boss Micky Mellon was baffled at how his side drew a blank for the fifth successive away game.
He said: “If anyone in that stadium says we didn’t deserve something from that game, I would call them a liar.We did everything but put the ball in the net. I couldn’t ask any more.
“We got undone with a bit of detail from a corner kick, but, other than that, it was just incessant pressure from us.We kept our composure and kept trying to play football. I lost count of how many crosses we put in their box.”