Town 0 Preston North End 1
A second-half tap in from Will Hayhurst meant Shrewsbury Town went out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at League One side Preston North End on Tuesday night.Hayhurst slid the ball in from Calum Woods' low pull back around the hour mark and, despite a late push for an equaliser, Town were unable to force penalties at Deepdale.
The result means Simon Grayson's Lilywhites will enter the draw for the second round of the competition.
FIRST HALF
Manager Micky Mellon made four changes to the side which beat Luton Town 2-0 on Saturday.
Anthony Griffith came into the starting line-up for his Town debut alongside Mark Ellis, who returned from injury, James Caton and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro.
Connor Goldson, James Wesolowski, James Collins and Scott Vernon and were the ones to drop out, while captain Liam Lawrence served the final match of a three-game suspension.
It was a very subdued start to the game at Deepdale, although the Lilywhites had the first effort on goal in the third minute, as Scott Laird flicked a low header towards the target from Jordan Hugill's cross on the right, but Town goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler got down to hold.
Leutwiler also had to be alert when a cross came off a Town defender before going into the Swiss keeper's hands.
Micky's side were organised and defended well against the League One side, however.
They also had one chance to open the scoring before the break as well, when defender Jermaine Grandison headed over from Jordan Clark's corner on the left around the half-hour mark.
But the most exciting part of a dull first half was the apparance of the vanishing spray, famously used at the 2014 World Cup, which will feature throughout the JPT this season.
HALF-TIME: Preston 0-0 Shrewsbury
The second period started where the first half left off - with very little happening, although both sides had penalty appeals waved away early on.
Then, in the Town penalty area, Hugill headed over Hayhurst's corner from the right as the home side applied a little more pressure attacking the stand which housed the majority of their supporters.
And Grayson's League One side took the lead in the 58th minute when Calum Woods crossed low from the byline on the right and Hayhurst managed to slide the ball in past a helpless Leutwiler on the edge of the six-yard box.
Micky Mellon responded by bringing on Scott Veron for James Caton after the goal.
But it was his strike partner Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro who looked to get in for the equaliser as he headed wide Cameron Gayle's cross from the right at the near post.
Gayle then came in to a central position after skipping around one challenge before hitting a strike which swerved and forced North End goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann to punch behind.
It could easily have been two for the Lilywhites had Josh Brownhill's long-range free-kick not hit the head of one of his teammates before flying just wide of the left post.
Town brought on both Collins and Wesolowski with time ticking away, looking to find an equaliser which would take the game to penalties.
Clark looked to find that goal when he cut in onto his left foot from the right but curled straight into Stuckmann's hands.
Akpa Akpro then forced a corner on the left after taking the ball past his marker before seeing his strike deflected into the side netting.
Town made a late push for the equaliser but, in the end, Preston held on to reach the second round of the competition.
FULL-TIME: Preston 1-0 Shrewsbury
TOWN LINE-UP: Leutwiler (GK), Grandison, Demetriou (Collins, 69), R. Woods (Wesolowski, 72), Ellis, Gayle, Griffith, Caton (Vernon, 59), Knight-Percival (c), Clark, Akpa Akpro.
SUBS: C. Burton (GK), Goldson, Collins, Vernon, Wesolowski.
PRESTON LINE-UP: Stuckmann (GK), Laird (Reid, 72), C. Woods, Buchanan, Welsh (c), King, Huntington, Hayhurst, Hugill (Davies, 67), Brownhill (Garner, 82), Browne.
SUBS: Jones (GK), Keane, Davies, Garner, Reid.
GOALS: Hayhurst (58).
ATTENDANCE: 4,029 (196 Shrewsbury).