A late rally and a disallowed goal was not enough to save a Swansea side, who showed plenty of passion but too little finesse from their first defeat in 10 games.

Lowly Shrewsbury again belied their league position as they made it five games unbeaten but Swansea had only themselves to blame for a performance punctuated by some at times woefully wayward passing.

When they finally clicked into some sort of gear, they found Town ’keeper Paul Edwards in inspired form with a string of late saves.

But Swansea should have done better against a Town side who lost their way after a bright opening in which they forced three early corners and saw Mark Winstanley’s header graze off the post in the 10th minute after an all too frequent display of uncertain Swansea defending.

Town’s goal came on 41 minutes with a superb 18-yard effort after Swansea had failed to clear Paul Evans’s free-kick.

Swansea’s best effort had come on 18 minutes when Nick Cusack’s shot was tipped on to the post by Edwards but after losing the midfield battle in the first half, the visitors began to test Shrewsbury’s increasingly frayed nerves after the break.

Smith’s header forced a fine reflex save from Edwards on the hour but six minutes later Julian Alsop had seemingly scrambled an equaliser from Jonathan Coates’s corner after a lengthy goalmouth free-for-all.

But referee Peter Walton, who had not endeared himself to the home crowd, spotted a linesman’s flag and the ball was ruled not to have crossed the line, much to Swansea’s fury.

Jason Price, whose main involvement had been to suffer a heavy tackle in the third minute, was substituted but Alsop and Steve Watkin continued to threaten as an equaliser seemed imminent.

But Swansea’s lack of movement up front was punished again on 75 minutes when Matthew Bound’s free-kick reached Cusack at the far post, but his lay-back was missed by everyone.

After 87 minutes Alsop’s goalbound header was tipped around by Edwards diving to his left, and a minute later he tipped brilliantly over the bar from Watkin’s scissor kick.

An explicable five minutes of injury time could not produce an equaliser for Swansea and their efforts had been too little, far too late.