LUDLOW Town's hopes of christening their splendid new Coors Stadium with a victory in the Shropshire Senior Cup semi-final were dashed by a sharp Shrewsbury Town team who might well bounce straight back up into the Football League.

Well matched

Cheered on by a crowd of 2,000, plus a sizeable number who used the slip road to the by-pass as a natural grandstand, both teams were busy and well matched in the opening 20 minutes.

It was a little ironic that it was Ludlow-born Jamie Tolley who should open the scoring at the new ground, the talented Shrewsbury midfielder surging into the box to capitalise on a mix-up to fire past Martin Poole.

This signalled the start of sustained Shrewsbury pressure with Tolley again going close and striker Luke Rodgers constantly posing a threat to the home defence.

Ludlow defended well and it took a few timely tackles from their two central defenders Steve Moore and Matt Forrest to thwart the eager Shrewsbury attack.

With seconds to go before the interval Shrewsbury doubled their lead when Rodgers drew a penalty, Colin Crum stepping up to send Poole the wrong way.

After the break, Shrewsbury scored early on from Rodgers and then as Town tired were able to fire home four more.