Colby Bishop’s double helped a below-par Portsmouth beat Shrewsbury 3-1 to move another step closer to promotion.

Table-topping Pompey started with two centre forwards and the early pressure paid dividends when they took the lead on three minutes.

Conor Shaughnessy crossed from the left and Shrews skipper Chey Dunkley could only put the ball into his own net.

Pompey were in total control but their lethargic and scrappy play produced little.

Shrewsbury took advantage and equalised on 29 minutes. A break on the left saw the ball reach an unmarked Jordan Shipley in the box and he easily beat home goalkeeper Will Norris.

Conceding seemed to wake Pompey up and they regained the lead three minutes before half time from the penalty spot.

Clever play by Kusini Yengi resulted in him being brought down and top scorer Bishop converted.

Shrewsbury played the second half with more purpose but Pompey finished the job off with 14 minutes remaining when Bishop slammed home from 10 yards.

Victory left Pompey nine clear of third-placed Bolton with four games remaining.

Shrewsbury gave their League One survival hopes a major boost with a 2-1 win at Port Vale.

Town propelled themselves seven points clear of the drop zone, while Vale are seven points adrift of safety.

The visitors made a fast start as striker Dan Udoh turned home Mal Benning’s fine corner in the sixth minute.

Port Vale goalkeeper Connor Ripley then kept the deficit at just the one as he pushed Chey Dunkley’s effort out for a corner.

The home side started to create chances heading into the break and Ben Garrity came close as he got on the end of Jesse Debrah’s ball over the top before firing wide.

Shrews keeper Marko Marosi produced a good stop to keep out Nathan Smith’s header before the rebound was sent wide.

Marosi then made an even better save to tip James Wilson’s strike past the post.

Despite Vale’s pressure, Tom Bloxham bagged a second for Shrewsbury eight minutes after the restart as he coolly slotted home.

The hosts set up a grandstand finish when teenager Baylee Dipepa scored his first professional goal as he tapped home Wilson’s flick at the back post.

However, on-loan winger Alex Mighten nodded wide as Vale’s wait for a first win of 2024 went on.

Lasse Sorensen scored a goal of the season contender as in-form Lincoln stretched their unbeaten League One run to nine matches with a 3-0 defeat of Shrewsbury.

The Danish full-back found the top corner from the right touchline to add to earlier efforts from Teddy Bishop and Reeco Hackett as the Imps emphatically tamed the Shrews at Sincil Bank.

Chey Dunkley poked an early effort wide for Shrewsbury before City went down the other end and took the lead.

Hackett’s corner was headed back across goal by Paudie O’Connor to Joe Taylor, whose shot was blocked, with the rebound falling to Hackett whose effort was then kept out, only for Bishop to find the net.

Bishop curled a 20-yard free-kick just over and then Hackett missed a golden chance to double City’s lead nine minutes into the second half, drilling wide when put through by Ethan Erhahon.

Hackett made amends just four minutes later, though, smashing a left-footed shot into the top corner following a delightful back-heeled pass from Taylor.

Hackett and Taylor were thwarted by Shrews goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne within a few seconds and then Sorensen drove into the side-netting as City went for the jugular.

A third inevitably came after 67 minutes with an incredible effort from Sorensen.

The hosts had won a penalty after Ben House was brought down by Burgoyne.

Bishop struck a post from the spot, with the ball rebounding out to Sorensen on the right wing. The Dane instinctively let fly, with the ball arcing into the top left-hand corner of the net.

Taylor Perry finally had the Shrews’ first shot on target after 70 minutes but Lukas Jensen produced a routine save.

Wigan boss Shaun Maloney praised his side’s mentality after securing a 1-0 win at Shrewsbury to pull eight points clear of the relegation zone.

After a dull first half with limited opportunities for both sides, the Latics found the decisive goal just minutes before the hour mark from a corner.

Matt Smith, with his first goal for Wigan, swept home from inside the box and sent the travelling fans home happy.

Shrewsbury went close to a late equaliser when defender Chey Dunkley rose highest from a corner but his headed effort clipped a defender and went out for another set piece.

Maloney said: “First half, we did a lot of things right with the ball without being as intense with it as I would have liked.

“It flipped second half, you also saw we scored a goal and had to hang in and show a different mentality – not one we have shown recently.

“I thought the players were brilliant, the players who started and the ones who came on made some amazing blocks to stop shots on our goal.

“I probably get more pleasure watching the team putting their body on the line for their club and team-mates and they did that today, so I loved every bit of that.

“When we play like we did in the first 20 minutes, we have to be in front, maybe not the chances, but we should have created more chances with the amount of possession we had.

“We have to be more ruthless when we break through teams in the middle of the pitch and we have to hurt them.”

Shrews boss Paul Hurst felt his side were worthy of a point.

He said: “I don’t think the performance overall deserved to lose the game but ultimately we have and we have to try and change that.

“The general consensus from what I have been told is that the performances have been better.

“I do believe you have to put in decent performances to give yourself a chance of winning the game, so we will obviously want to stick with that and hope something can drop.

“I can’t knock the players in terms of effort but what I will say is I was disappointed with the start we made and I think we took 20 minutes to get started.

“For the majority of the game we were the team pushing on top; once they get in front, they will probably be happy defending a bit deeper and not committing men forward but I also felt we pushed them back.

“Although they ended up keeping a clean sheet, their bench would be not happy with the number of crosses and set plays they had to defend.”

Shaun Maloney hailed a “very professional performance” after Wigan secured a third 2-0 victory on the spin in Sky Bet League One against a Shrewsbury side who played for all but four minutes with 10 men.

Former Wigan defender Chey Dunkley was shown a straight red card for hauling down Thelo Aasgaard on the edge of the box.

And goals in either half from Stephen Humphrys and substitute Callum Lang secured a comfortable win for Latics, who also hit the woodwork twice.

“I thought it was a very professional performance,” said Maloney.

“Obviously it was very hard for Shrewsbury when you go down to 10 men that early.

“I thought we started the game very well, and then the game completely changes.

“I was just really happy with how professional we were, because the sending-off changed our outlook dramatically.

“Give Shrewsbury credit, actually, even with 10 men.

“It changes how we play, the spaces become bigger and we have to make them even bigger for them, which is probably the reason why we created so many chances.

“We had to change how we played in the second half, we had to become more aggressive.

“I was really pleased with the guys who came on in the second half, especially Callum McManaman who brought that mentality back just at a time when I thought the game was starting to drift.

“This kind of game can drift and become a lot harder, even when you have the man advantage.”

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor had no complaints over either the red card or the result.

“It was a very difficult afternoon for us,” he said. “But you’ve got to put it into context, when you have your captain sent off inside five minutes away from home – and quite rightly sent off.

“It’s a bad decision from Chey, he gets himself into a position where he can’t affect the run of the player going through.

“Going down to 10 men inside five minutes, you know there’s going to be some suffering, and there was.

“Having said that, for large parts of the game I thought we were excellent, considering we had 10 men.

“The players trusted each other, they moved the ball very well and we got into some excellent positions.

“You have to understand that when you play with 10 men, you will have to give space away because you can’t cover the whole pitch.

“Therefore they had plenty of opportunities from crosses and we haven’t stopped crosses well enough today in one-v-one situations.

“With the ball I was pleased, we varied the ball well and overall I’m disappointed because I felt this was a good opportunity to pick up some points.

“But we weren’t able to do that because we went down to 10 men so early.”

Shrewsbury manager Matt Taylor hopes his players saw how good they can be as Town claimed a 2-1 victory over winless Burton.

Tom Bayliss fired Shrewsbury into the lead in the third minute, tapping home at the back post from a Dan Udoh cross.

The home side then doubled their lead just before half-time with Chey Dunkley heading in from a Jordan Shipley corner.

The Brewers found the back of the net for the first time this season when Mason Bennett pulled one back in the 97th minute but it proved to be a consolation.

Taylor said: “It helps when you score a goal as early as we did. I asked the players for a reaction from Saturday because we weren’t good enough.

“We were braver when we needed to be. Today was more like us and the performance from the first game of the season.

“The only disappointing thing was we conceded because the performance up to then deserved a clean sheet.

“But make no bones about how important that result is. I said to the players at half-time we had achieved nothing yet.

“I spoke to them about understanding they had to do everything they could to win the game, and they did that.

“Genuinely, I think this is huge for us as a group, for the players to understand how good they can be.

“If you had offered me two home wins in the first three matches of the season, I would have taken it.”

The search continues for Burton’s first points of the campaign after their 3-0 thumping against Derby and opening day 2-0 loss away to Blackpool.

Boss Dino Maamria said: “Yes, it is disappointing. It’s been a tough tough start, not just with the fixture list but also the amount of injuries we have had.

“We were forced to change shape and start with a different team than what we would have hoped for, but overall we conceded too early on again and then we conceded late into the half which give ourselves a mountain to climb.

“In between the goals, we played pretty well tonight, and I thought we had created a lot of chances.

“It was frustrating not to get that first goal, especially the first half, because we had some big moments.

“I think if we scored first-half and gone in at 1-1, it would have been a fair reflection on the half.

“But to go in when they scored from a corner in the last kick of the half, it was a real kick in the teeth.

“But I thought we responded well overall in the second and got the goal we deserved.”