THE shortest day of the year was an appropriate date for Accrington Stanley's game with Shrewsbury Town, as the Reds paid the price for not putting enough daylight between themselves and their opponents.

John Coleman's side suffered their seventh home league defeat of the season despite scoring first and leading for nearly a third of the game.

And he insisted it was a match that was definitely there for the taking.

He said: "We didn't stick to the game plan in the second half and we got punished for it.

"It was 10 minutes of madness when they scored two goals and they had an eight minute spell when they were camped out in our half, but after that, it was all us.

"We dominated the first half, but went to sleep midway through the second.

"Anyone who watched the match from a neutral's point of view will be amazed that they (Shrewsbury) have won.

"Bav (Ian Dunbavin) has made three good saves, but that's all he's had to do in the whole game and we've missed some glorious chances.

"The disappointing thing is when you can camp out in their half for the last 10 minutes of the game.

"Why aren't we doing that for the first 25 minutes of the second half?

"If we do that then we win the game by two or three goals, which we deserved to do."

Coleman made one change from the side that defeated Chesterfield 2-1, replacing Billy Dennehy with Andy Procter, and stuck with a 4-4-2 formation.

Both teams started relatively slowly, though the home side enjoyed the best of the possession and the territorial advantage in the early stages. On a very wet pitch it was difficult to pass the ball fluently, and both sets of players seemed to require time to adapt to the saturated surface.

Clear chances were few and far between in the opening half an hour, though Stanley's Jay Harris tested Shrewsbury goalkeeper Glynn Garner with a vicious low cross, Ian Craney saw a shot deflected wide and defender Mark Roberts lacked the necessary finesse in the box in the early stages.

Garner was the busier of the two keepers, and it took 24 minutes for Ian Dunbavin to make a real save as he denied Ben Davies.

But, seven minutes later, the Reds were grateful to their number 25 when he twice prevented them from conceding with wonderful saves.

First the former Shrews shot stopper somehow clawed a looping Luke Jones header from under his crossbar and then he recovered to push Stuart Drummond's headed follow up behind for a corner.

As if to show their gratitude, the home side caused problems at the other end, with Harris, Robbie Williams and Craney all firing warning shots before they made their breakthrough.

Six minutes from the interval Paul Mullin rose highest to meet a John Miles corner from the right and diverted the ball past Garner for his ninth goal of the season.

The Reds were decent value for their half time lead and resumed with similar vigour.

Just a minute after the restart it was almost two after Miles saw his shot charged down and the ball fell to Procter. The 24-year-old struck a fierce shot from the edge of the box, forcing a good save from the goalkeeper.

And the same situation arose nine minutes later when Garner clawed a Procter header around his right hand post after an inviting right-wing cross from Leam Richardson.

Shrews boss Gary Peters introduced ex-Red Darran Kempson and former Burnley youngster Marc Pugh, electing to change to 4-4-2.

And the visitors soon began to get a foothold in the game as they looked for an equalising goal.

Drummond flashed a header wide just before the hour mark, but Dunbavin remained relatively untroubled.

Untroubled, that is, until the 64th minute when he could do nothing about Town's equaliser. There was a question of handball as Davies controlled but no question surrounding his technique as he curled the ball into the top right corner from 25 yards, leaving the goalkeeper no chance.

There was barely time for the Reds to recover from the blow before they were hit by another: this time Davies was the provider as he crossed from the right to find the head of Dave Hibbert. The striker powered the ball past Dunbavin to make it two goals conceded in four minutes for the visitors.

Stanley pushed for an immediate response, and should have been level on 71 minutes when Garner failed to hold Craney's corner.

Mullin and Roberts both saw their efforts charged down, before to ball popped out to Williams on the left. With the goal at his mercy the defender sliced his right-footed effort wide when it looked easier to score with his left.

The visitors had a goal disallowed eleven minutes from the end after Pugh's left wing cross was diverted into Dunbavin's net but the ball had already gone out of play.

The Stanley keeper had to be alert again in the dying stages as he made a fine double save from Davies and Drummond, but most of the action was concentrated at the other end.

Mullin miscued a shot well wide of the right hand post and Procter clattered the advertising hoardings with a fine drive, which ended the wrong side of the post.

Five minutes of stoppage time were indicated, and Stanley camped in the Shrewsbury half for the duration.

And, but for Garner, they would have levelled, as the Town defence failed to clear Craney's free kick and Harris threw himself at the ball, only to see the goalkeeper come from nowhere to keep his diving header out.