A brilliant Tyreece John-Jules goal has given the Blues a 1-0 half-time lead against Shrewsbury at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made five changes from the team which won 1-0 at Burton on Tuesday.
Cameron Burgess, Kane Vincent-Young, Leif Davis, Conor Chaplin and John-Jules all started with George Edmundson, Kayden Jackson, Greg Leigh, Sone Aluko and former Shrews loanee Freddie Ladapo dropping to the bench.
There was still no place in the 18 for Wes Burns, who suffered a groin injury in the warm-up ahead of last week’s 3-0 home win against the MK Dons, or Dominic Ball, still not quite ready to return from the ankle problem he suffered in pre-season.
Burgess was at left centre-half with Davis the wing-back on that side and Vincent-Young on the other with Chaplin returning as one of the number 10s alongside Marcus Harness, who has scored three goals in his last three league games, behind John-Jules, who was the lone central striker on his full league debut for the Blues.
Shrewsbury’s XI included former Town loanee Matthew Pennington at the heart of the defence.
The Blues, in their black and red away kit in a competitive game for the first time,
won a corner on the left in the third minute which Burgess stooped to nod wide at the near post.
Town weer astonishingly not awarded a penalty in the sixth minute when skipper Sam Morsy found Vincent-Young breaking into the right of the box with a superb pass.
The former Colchester man took the ball down having broken behind the Shrews backline and seemed certain to score until being upended by Tom Flanagan’s wild, two-footed lunge from behind.
It was a penalty as obvious as they come but referee Neil Hair, a late replacement for Will Finnie, somehow saw otherwise opted to wave away the lengthy Blues protests.
Town quickly threatened again, Harness cutting a cross back from the right which home keeper Marko Marosi claimed.
The Blues had controlled the opening quarter without creating a further opportunity, however, on 16 Morsy was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Tom Bayliss.
Six minutes later the Blues went in front via a brilliant John-Jules goal, his first for the club.
The on-loan Arsenal man won the ball midway inside the Shrews’ half by outmuscling their captain Luke Leahy, turned and took it forward into the area, feinting past Chey Dunkley, who he left in a heap on the floor, before confidently slipping to the left of Marosi.
Lengthy celebrations involving the players on the field and the substitutes warming up on the left touchline ensued.
Town continued to control the game, then on 34 Blues keeper Christian Walton, a spectator up to now, turned his way past a Shrews attacker inside his area causing a little anxiety among Town supporters, before a ball was played forward to John-Jules, who attempted to lay back to Harness first time with his thigh, however, a defender intervened.
Five minutes later, Walton was unable to deal with a corner from the right, the keeper strenuously arguing that he had been impeded, and he may have had a point, but the Blues were able to clear in any case.
Shrewsbury were showing a bit more going forward and in the 44th minute Jordan Shipley sent over a deep cross from the left beyond Walton but Pennington was unable to direct his header goalwards.
That was the last action of the half, the Blues having been well on top for the most part and worth of the lead John-Jules’s excellent goal had given them.
Why they hadn’t already had the opportunity to go ahead from the penalty spot was perplexing with the foul on Vincent-Young as obvious as they come.
While the Blues have been very much on top, Shrewsbury certainly aren’t out of it having caused Town problems on a couple of occasions towards the break. However, a second Blues goal ought to be enough to seal a fourth win on the trot.
Shrewsbury: Marosi, Leahy (c), Pennington, Udoh, Pyke, Bayliss, Dunkley, Nurse, Shipley, Dacosta, Flanagan. Subs: Moore, Bowman, Burgoyne, Bloxham, Caton, Craig, Barlow.
Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Vincent-Young, Evans, Morsy (c), Davis, Chaplin, Harness, John-Jules. Subs: Hladky, Edmundson, Leigh, Edwards, Aluko, Jackson, Ladapo. Referee: Neil Hair (Cambridgeshire).