Shrewsbury Town ended the most turbulent week of their recent history when they took all three points from a tempestuous encounter with league leaders Swansea City – who were reduced to nine men before the half-time interval.
Following their FA Cup humbling at non-league Histon last Saturday, the Gay Meadow side appointed former Preston and Exeter boss Gary Peters as their new manager on Monday – while on Tuesday, the club were finally given the go-ahead to build a new stadium on the outskirts of the town.
Struggling near the foot of League Two, it looked a tall order for the Gay Meadow side to halt the promotion surge of Swansea who went into top spot in midweek after an impressive run of form – but goals in each half from Jake Sedgemore and Dave Walton secured a vital win, against a Swansea side who had two players red carded in a stormy five minute period shortly before the break.
Following an entertaining opening to the game during which both sides had spells of dominance, Shrewsbury made the breakthrough on 20 minutes when Sedgemore fired home superbly from the edge of the box after the Swansea defence had failed to clear a corner.
Tempers had already become frayed by this stage, but things boiled over completely in the 41st minute, when Swans' central defender Garry Monk was ordered off for a second bookable offence. In the protests that followed, referee Evans went crashing to the ground when surrounded by a group of irate Swansea players, with the Vetch Field club likely to hear much more of this incident after the referee submits his match report.
Worse was to follow for Kenny Jacket's men – who found themselves down to nine men three minutes later when Andy Robinson was shown the red card following a clash with Shrewsbury full-back Darren Moss that sparked a fracas involving 15 players.
In the second half Shrewsbury had difficulty in making their numerical advantage count and although midfielder Kevin Street (twice) and striker Luke Rodgers went close to extending the lead, they did not finally ensure victory until the 80th minute – when Walton met Ryan Lowe's corner to score with a powerful downward header, thus ensuring a winning start for new manager Peters.