Cheltenham Town slipped to their second defeat in four days despite taking a second half lead against Shrewsbury Town at the Abbey Business Stadium tonight.

It was a particularly disappointing outcome for Martin Allen's side, who have now failed to dig out a victory at home since the season opener against Grimsby Town.

Scott Brown had probably wished the ground would swallow him up, at fault for both of Shrewsbury's goals which negated Barry Hayles' classy strike on the hour, which was the first time the Shrews number one had been beaten in over six hours of football.

The Robins though threw the kitchen sink at the Shrewsbury goal in the closing stages; Julian Alsop made a late impact from the bench while Michael Pook struck the woodwork but Shrewsbury, who have appeared in two of the last three Coca-Cola League Two play-off finals, had every player back defending to see off the late challenge and preserve their impressive form of late.

TEAM NEWS: Boss Allen rung the changes following his side's 4-1 defeat at Aldershot four days ago. Alsop, Andy Gallinagh, Kyle Haynes all missed out, handing starting berths to Pook, Hayles and David Hutton in a revamped line-up which saw Pook resume in central midfield alongside skipper David Bird, with Hutton (right) and Hayles either side of the pair. Elvis Hammond and Justin Richards formed the front line with Allen reverting to 4-4-2 after Saturday's showing with one up front.

Meanwhile Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Simpson, who had seen his side win their last three games - keeping a clean sheet on each occasion, kept faith with the same starting line-up for the third successive match.

Fifth minute: Shrewsbury created the first chance of note after only five minutes when Kelvin Langmead went close to connecting with Jake Simpson's free-kick from the left touchline at the far post.

19: Paul Murray called Scott Brown into a smart diving stop from 20 yards after a decent passage of play by the visitors down the right.

20 BOOKING: Pook talked himself into the referee's book after an incident on the edge of the Shrewsbury box.

23: Cheltenham fashioned their first chance of the game with 23 minutes on the clock after Lee Ridley had sent a long throw into the danger area from the right-hand side. Hayles took advantage of the confusion to steer the ball on target while Hammond attempted to turn it in from close-range but it deflected wide for the first corner of the contest.

25: Low released a stinging shot 25 minutes in, drawing a late save from goalkeeper Steve Phillips who dived to his left after Bird had lifted in a free-kick from the right corner.

30: The woodwork came to Cheltenham's rescue on the half hour after a good break down the left by Simpson. The winger made the byline and cut it back into the path of Jake Robinson, who rattled the left upright with a venomous strike from 18 yards. Joss Labadie was sharp to pounce on the rebound, but it arrived too quickly for the striker to direct his reflex effort on target.

33 BOOKING: Paul Murray became the first player to be cautioned for Shrewsbury after he had hauled down Pook 20 yards from goal. Bird swung it in, but Hayles' stooping header flew over the bar.

35: Hutton saw a couple of curled efforts narrowly miss the target from 20 yards.

HALF TIME: 0-0

54: Richards was a whisker away from claiming the opening goal of the night after his 54th minute strike from the edge of the box fizzed over the Shrewsbury crossbar.

55 SUBSTITUTION: Lewis Neal replaced Simpson ten minutes into the second half.

59: Robinson took advantage of a Michael Townsend error on the half way line to race in on goal but Drissa Diallo came across to do enough to force the wide man into a scruffy shot which rolled well wide.

60 GOAL Cheltenham Town 1-0 Shrewsbury Town
It took a moment of genuine quality to break the deadlock on the night, Hayles twisting away from Kelvin Langmead before smashing the ball beyond Phillips with his left foot to register his third goal of the season. Lee Ridley had done well to find Hayles with a ball from the right, but the former Fulham striker had it all to do with his back to goal and showed his Premier League pedigree to breach the Shrewsbury defence for the first time in 386 minutes of football.

63: Shrewsbury responded with a chance of their own when Dave Hibbert picked out Neal down the right but the substitute thumped his shot well over.

72 GOAL Cheltenham Town 1-1 Shrewsbury Town
Scott Brown's moment to forget arrived with 72 minutes played when he was caught pondering on downfield clearance which allowed Dave Hibbert to close in and force the Cheltenham number one into a hurried clearance. That struck the Shrews striker before bouncing into the unguarded net.

74 GOAL Cheltenham Town 1-2 Shrewsbury Town
All of Cheltenham's hard work was undone only two minutes after the equaliser when Brown, with perhaps the previous error playing on his mind, spilled Hibbert's header after Neal had crossed from the left, allowing the heavily bandaged Labadie to nip in poke home from close-range.

79 SUBSTITUTE: Alsop replaced winger Hutton for the final eleven minutes of the game.

81 DOUBLE SUBSTITUTION: Nathan Elder (for Hibbert) and Kris Bright (Robinson) were pressed into action to consolidate their side's lead in the final stages of the contest.

84 SUBSTITUTE: Next Theo Lewis came on in place of Justin Richards.

85: Pook smacked the angle of the goal with a fantastic volley from 25 yards after Hammond had set him up from the right.

90: A Lewis 20 yarder rolled a couple of feet past the right post as the game entered injury time.

90+3: Alsop was so close to levelling Martin Devaney's Football League, meeting Bird's centre from the left with a towering header only to be denied by Phillips with a low save at his far post.

FULL TIME: 1-2

CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Brown; Low, Diallo, Townsend, Ridley; Hutton (Alsop 79), Pook, Bird (c), Richards (Lewis 84); Hammond, Hayles. Subs not used: Gallinagh, Haynes, Denton, Cox, Richardson (Gk).

SHREWSBURY TOWN (4-4-2): Phillips; Holden, Langmead, Coughlan (c), Cansdell-Sherriff; Simpson (Neal 55), Labadie, Murray, McIntyre; Robinson (Bright 81), Hibbert (Elder 81). Subs not used: Leslie, Hooman, Gray, Arestidou (Gk).

REFEREE: J Waugh (South Yorkshire)

ATTENDANCE: 2,928 (482 from Shrewsbury)

Murry Toms at the Abbey Business Stadium