Captain Ian Sharps is sent off as Shrewsbury draw 0-0 with Gillingham

Feb 27 2011 by Mark Woodward, Sunday Mercury

SKIPPER Ian Sharps was sent off just before the end as Shrewsbury played out an uninspiring stalemate against promotion rivals Gillingham.

Sharps impressively marshalled a strong defensive display from the hosts but blotted his copybook by being shown a straight red card for hauling down Gillingham’s top scorer Cody McDonald.

“From where we’re stood it looks as though there was contact made,” admitted Shrewsbury boss Graham Turner.

In a game of few opportunities, the better chances were created by Gillingham.

Keeper Ben Smith had to be alert to keep out a Jack Payne drive midway through the first half before topping that with a flying last-minute tip-over from John Nutter’s powerful free-kick.

Shrewsbury struggled to carve out many openings against a well-drilled Gills backline with Jon Taylor smashing a volley over the top before top scorer Mark Wright fired a stoppage-time over the crossbar.