OWEN Dale struck his eighth goal of a productive campaign as Crewe claimed victory on their first visit to the New Meadow in more than five years.

The hard-fought success, a first in four games, moved Dave Artell's side up to ninth in the League One table and level on points with sixth-placed Sunderland.

This wasn't a game to feast upon as a spectacle with neither side carving out decent chances. But Crewe's rearguard, with youngster Travis Johnson back on its right side and Harry Pickering making his first appearance as a Blackburn Rovers loan player, was good enough to keep out the occasional roaming threat posed by Shaun Whalley and effectively neuter ex-Alex man Dan Udoh.

In the end a mistake at the back proved decisive and it was Shrewsbury who committed it with centre-half Ethan Ebanks-Landell scooping Johnson's cross into the path of the returning Dale who finished from close range.

But Crewe survived a first-minute scare when Blackburn loan man Harry Chapman charged clear, only to clip his shot the wrong side of the post.

Artell's team needed time to get a foothold in the game, but while Salop enjoyed the early possession Olly Lancashire and Omar Beckles were largely untroubled against their former club.

The three Crewe changes from the side drawing with Ipswich at the weekend saw Johnson, Dale and Daniel Powell coming in for Jones, Charlie Kirk and Stephen Walker.

Soon the trio were making their mark with Powell's snapshot forcing a save out of keeper Matija Sarkic.

Then Johnson delivered a low trajectory into the box and Ebanks-Landell's attempted clearance looped up for the onrushing Dale, who was 'Johnny on the Spot' yet again in the 27th-minute.

Crewe were comfortable in possession, but were forced to negotiate a spell of pressure after the break. Whalley's fierce blast from outside the D just missed hitting the top corner and Dave Richards gloved over a rising drive unleashed from Manchester City loan teenager Nathaniel Ogbeta.

Richards was playing his sixth consecutive game and he again demonstrated that faith in him when he kept out a powerful low drive from Whalley with Beckles making sure the rebound was booted out of harm's way.

Shrewsbury: Sarkic; Williams (Pyke), Ebanks-Landell, Pierre; Sears (Daniels), Vela, Norburn, Ogbeta; Chapman; Udoh (Davis), Whalley. Subs: Burgoyne, Golbourne, Edwards, Goss.

Crewe: Richards; Johnson, Lancashire, Beckles, Pickering; Wintle, Murphy, Finney (Lowery); Dale, Mandron (Porter), Powell (Walker). Subs: Jaaskelainen, Adebisi, Lowery, Evans, Kirk.