SHREWSBURY Town are certainly not the first team to come to the County Ground and put 10 men behind the ball and it seems highly unlikely that they will be the last either.

Town are often faced with the prospect of trying to break down stubborn opposition on their own turf, with sides seemingly more than happy to shut up shop from the off and try to nick what they can on the counter-attack.

The trouble is, Swindon seem to lack the guile, spark or creative nous to find a way through that rear-guard effort.

Although they were by far the more offensive side in the first half against the Shrews, who sat so deep that striker Freddie Ladapo was often 30-odd yards from his nearest team-mate, the home side never looked overly threatening.

Gaps did eventually begin to appear for Swindon to exploit once the visitors were reduced to 10 men but even then they were unable to capitalise.

Having put his side in front from the penalty spot, John Goddard failed to kill the game off when he was sent in one-on-one with Shrews keeper Jayson Leutwiler but he took too long to pull the trigger and allowed the chasing Mat Sadler to catch him and get in a crucial challenge.

Town are desperately in need of an upturn in form and that is only likely to come with a flurry of goals, the problem is, they just can’t score goals at present.

The problem is not a new one. Town have registered just 25 goals in 26 League One fixtures so far this term, with only the division’s bottom two sides, Oldham Athletic and Coventry City, finding the net on fewer occasions.

Although Luke Norris looks like he has finally found his scoring boots, he is the only Swindon player to be wearing them at present.

Town have maintained their goal-a-game ratio in the last six league games but only two of those have come in open play, with Norris getting both.