REPORT | Shrewsbury 0 Birmingham City 2

The Blues had taken the lead midway through the first half when Jordan James fired home from inside the box.

James had needed two bites of the cherry after his first effort was blocked, only for the rebound to fall to him to smash home.

The visitors had several chances in the first half before going one up when Willum Willumsson smashed the ball home when he should have done better.

Alfie May, who recently arrived from Charlton, had a free kick that also went inches wide of the Salop goal.

For Town, clear openings were few and far between. Tommi O’Reilly, making his first appearance in a Town shirt, looked brilliant. He cut inside onto his favored left foot and tipped one over the bar, but there was nothing else to report.

Salop made changes after the break by bringing on Joe Young for his second appearance as a trilist, while Mal Benning also came on.

The Blues could have doubled their lead when Koji Myoshi missed a direct chance almost immediately after the restart.

He mishit his effort rolled wide and failed to test Young.

The game died down from there. The Blues made nine changes just after the hour before Salop responded with four of their own not 10 minutes later.

The Blues grabbed their second in the last 10 minutes of normal time when Lukas Jutkiewicz turned in a Romelle Donovan cross.

There was another 90 minutes left in the legs of the Salop players when they welcome Leicester on Tuesday night.

Shrews: Trialist A (Young 45), Hoole (Perry 67), Feeney, Winchester (Thompson-McKenzie 88), Biggins, Lloyd (Godwin 67), Bloxham, Nsiala, Nurse (Pierre 67), Shipley (Loughran 67), O “Reilly (Benning 45).

Subs: Young, Benning, Perry, Pierre, Whitney, Loughran, Cairns, Thompson-Mckenzie, Godwin.

Blues: Allsop (Peacok-Farrell 45), Laird (Khela 62), Sanderson (Pendleton 62) Bielik (Home 62), Hansson (Roberts 62), Myoshi (Hall 62), Seung-ho (Roberts 62), Cochrane (Donovan ) 62), James (Anderson 62), May (Jutkiewizc 62), Willumsson (Dembele 45).

Subs: Peacock-Farrell, Fogarty, Roberts, Home, Jutkiewicz, Anderson, Pendleton, Donovan, Hall, Khela, Bateman, Dembele.