Town 0 Peterborough 1
Shrewsbury Town: Weale, Woods, Winfield, Mkandawire, Jacobson, Parry (Reach 68)
McAllister (Goldson 73), Wildig, Taylor, Lopez (McAlinden 66) Bradshaw
SUBS NOT USED: Anyon, Jones, McQuade, Marsden
Peterborough United: Olejnik, Alcock, Zakuani, Bostwick, Swanson, Payne, Assombalonga (Jacobs 88) Taylor (Mendez-laing 62), Rowe, Barnett, Little (Ntlhe 38)
SUBS NOT USED: Day, Brisley, Kearns, Newell, Jeffers
REF- E Ilderton
PETERBOROUGH 1 SHREWSBURY 0 (FT)
ATT: 6596 (AWAY 391)
A solitary second half strike from substitute Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was enough to seal three points for much fancied Peterborough against a stubborn Shrewsbury, who still await a first away win of the season.
With Posh struggling to break down a disciplined Town defence, manager Darren Ferguson brought on striker Mendez-Laing to try to ask more questions, and within a minute of his arrival on 64, a surging run down the left saw him cut inside and unleash a brilliant, bending shot which flew high into the top corner of Weale's net.
Graham Turner's side frustrated the hosts for long stages and may have grabbed a dramatic late equaliser when Jon Taylor's 25 yard drive was parried away by Posh keeper Bobby Olejnik. At the other end, despite plenty of possession for the home side, Shrews stopper Chris Weale had a generally quiet afternoon.
Turner named an unchanged team from last weekend's two-nil win over Gillingham. Loan signing Cristian Lopez continued up front alongside five goal top-scorer Tom Bradshaw meaning fellow loanee Liam McAlinden had to settle for a place on the bench, despite scoring the second goal against the Gills. A groin injury continues to keep midfielder Luke Summerfield on the sidelines but Turner is hopeful he'll be back for Tuesday's home game against Colchester.
The signs were ominous for Shrewsbury early on after Peterborugh dominated the opening ten minutes, but Town soon settled with centre-back pairing Dave Winfield and Tamika Mkandawire keeping an expensively assembled Posh forward line reasonably quiet in a first half of few chances.
The best opportunity came inside the first two minutes and proved to be a real let off for Town. The power and pace of Tyrone Barnett calved Shrewsbury open through the middle, his ball found Paul Taylor who cut inside and saw his curling effort from inside the area smack back off Weale's right hand post.
Town's first shot on goal came on 11 minutes when good interplay in midfield between Aaron Wildig and David McAllister found Lopez - his sharp turn on the edge of the box could only bring a scuffed shot which was easily gathered by Olejnik.
Late in the first half, Winfield blocked a goal-bound Barnett shot while the striker also sent a header well over from the resulting corner - an opportunity he might have done better with.
Then early in the second half the excellent Winfield bravely blocked a fierce shot again, this time from Ipswich loanee Taylor who was allowed to run a long way up to the edge of the Town box before unleashing his effort.
Weale was then on hand to save a Britt Assombalonga shot at his near post soon after - the legs of the Town keeper denying the big money Posh striker, who was a loan target for Shrewsbury in the summer before a permanent switch to London Road from Watford. Peterborough came even closer on 55 when a Michael Bostwick header looped onto the top of the crossbar from a corner.
Bostwick showed his defensive prowess moments later, brilliantly blocking Taylor's fizzing drive, the ball spilled quickly to Wildig who was unable to generate enough power behind his header, forcing a routine save from Olejnik. Wildig and his fellow countrymen Bradshaw and Paul Parry also tried efforts towards goal from distance- as did Lopez - but couldn't find the target on either occasion.
Then came the Posh winner, leaving Turner to go for broke with the introduction of Adam Reach and McAlinden. Those changes boosted Town who finished strongly with Taylor's late shot well saved while Joe Jacobson also saw a speculative effort bounce just wide.