Town’s final away game of the season against Shrewsbury at Montgomery Waters Meadow remains 0-0 at the break.
Troy Parrott replaced Teddy Bishop, who dropped to the bench, in a side otherwise unchanged from Saturday’s 2-1 win at Swindon.
Dai Cornell was again in goal with Kane Vincent-Young at right-back and Myles Kenlock at left-back with Stephen Ward again missing out.
The veteran Irishman, who is out of contract this summer, appears to have played his final game for the club with his total of league starts this season having reached 29 and we understand, as was the case with Alan Judge, a 30th would trigger Town’s year’s option on his deal.
Andre Dozzell partnered Flynn Downes in the middle of midfield with Gwion Edwards on the left and Armando Dobra on the right, and Parrott behind lone out-and-out striker James Norwood, who again skippered.
For Shrewsbury, former Blues loanee Matthew Pennington started at the heart of their defence, while Donald Love and Shaun Whalley replaced Ethan Ebanks-Landell, who missed out on a place in the 18, and Harry Chapman, who was on the bench.
Tom Bloxham, a 17-year-old striker, kept his place having impressed when making his full league debut in Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat to Oxford.
Pennington headed the game’s first chance over the bar from a corner on the left in the seventh minute with the Blues having seen plenty of the ball in the early stages but without threatening.
The game continued in a similar pattern with Town, wearing their light blue away kit, creating their first opportunity in the 18th minute when Norwood headed wide from Vincent-Young’s cross.
A minute later, the Shrews, with manager Steve Cotterill loudly shouting instructions from the back of the directors’ box, claimed a penalty when a free-kick from the left reached skipper Ollie Norburn on the other side of the box from where he hit a shot against Kenlock. Referee Lee Swabey showed no interest.
Pennington was shown the game’s first yellow card in the 27th minute for upending Parrott as the on-loan Spurs man sought to break away down the left.
Parrott forced home keeper Harry Burgoyne into action for the first time seven minutes later, the Irish international cutting in from the left before hitting a powerful shot which the Shrews number one batted away to his right.
Town ought to have gone ahead in the 35th minute when Dobra tricked his way past his man on the right of the box and his cross reached Edwards, who slipped as he tried to turn the ball goalwards from eight yards.
Cornell was forced into his first serious save of the half on 39 when Whalley was played in on the left of the box by Norburn but the Town keeper was quickly out to block.
A minute later, Edwards claimed what would have been a very generous penalty when he was dispossessed on the left of the area with Shrewsbury repeatedly giving the ball away inside their own half. Town similarly gave it away again before they were able to create a chance of note.
Cornell was in action again in the 41st minute when Love played Bloxham in on the right of the box but the Blues keeper saved down to his right.
Norwood was yellow-carded for frustratedly kicking the ball over the stand into the car park soon afterwards with referee Swabey subsequently going to the touchline to have words with Blues boss Cook, who had expressed his frustration at a number of decisions, most notably a foul given against Downes, which led to the Town manager to claim the referee was "making the game a farce”.
That was the final excitement of a half which won’t live long in the memory, the game every bit a meaningless end-of-season dead rubber. Town had seen plenty of the ball without creating much with Cornell having been forced into marginally bigger saves than his Shrews counterpart.
The Blues’ best chance was Dobra’s cutback from the right to Edwards with the Welshman losing his footing as the ball came to him.
Shrewsbury: Burgoyne, Love, Pennington, Pierre, Walker, Ogbeta, Davis, Vela, Norburn (c), Whalley, Bloxham. Subs: Bevan, Edwards, Williams, Goss, Main, Udoh, Chapman.
Town: Cornell, Vincent-Young, Woolfenden, McGuinness, Kenlock, Dozzell, Downes, Edwards, Parrott, Dobra, Norwood (c). Subs: Holy, Chambers, Nsiala, Bishop, Harrop, Bennetts, Hawkins. Referee: Lee Swabey (Devon).