Gravesend & Northfleet 0 Shrewsbury 3

ALL you needed to know about the pitiless inequality of the Nationwide Conference could be found on Saturday at Stonebridge Road.

Full-time footballers versus part-timers equalled no contest as Gravesend came in a poor second.

While Shrewsbury player-manager Jimmy Quinn could afford to leave prolific leading scorer Luke Rodgers on the bench and give a debut to another free scorer in the newly-acquired Duane Darby, opposite manager Andy Ford fielded an attack that really struggled.

Shrewsbury included in midfield Martin O’Connor, a recent captain of Birmingham City and Walsall. And in left-winger Sam Aiston, who inflicted a torrid afternoon on the hapless Matt Lee, they possessed a player who was playing for Sunderland not so long ago.

Gravesend will most certainly raise their game when Notts County come calling in the FA Cup on December 6. They needed to raise it on Saturday against a club who became overwhelmed by euphoria after knocking Premier League Everton out of the competition last season.

Shrewsbury’s failure to get their feet back on the ground cost them their Football League status. A sobering thought for the Fleet.

Ford was rightly indignant with his team’s performance. Low on creativity, they were simply not good enough. “I cannot accept that kind of performance from our players,” he said. “We were running around chasing shadows all afternoon.

“We’re a team that’s all about passion, about getting at the opposition. We never did that today.”

Shrewsbury, who had not won any of their last five away league games, took a 17th-minute lead when Ryan Lowe scored the first of his two goals after Fleet goalkeeper Paul Wilkerson had earlier done well to keep out a drive from 44-year-old Quinn.

Lowe made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute following more dozy Fleet defending. Substitute Colin Cramb took Gregor Rioch’s pass deep into stoppage time to make it 3-0 with the Fleet defence again in disarray.

Shrewsbury celebrated, Gravesend’s shoulders dropped so low they almost scraped the ground. They always suspected it would be a long, hard winter. And now they know.

Gravesend: Wilkerson, Lee, Duku, Moore, Gibbs, Owen, Perkins, McKimm, Drury, Haworth, Abbey. Substitutions: Walshe for Owen 46 mins, Pinnock for Lee 74 mins, Shearer for Haworth 82 mins. Substitutes not used: Strouts, O'Reilly.