Shrewsbury Town opened their new Third Division campaign with a hard fought 1-0 home win over visiting Exeter City.
Last season's top scorer, 22-goal Luke Rodgers, scored the decisive goal a minute before half time against an Exeter side reduced to ten men for the last nine minutes following the dismissal of Santos Gala for a second bookable offence.
While Shrewsbury will be delighted with the victory, there was some bad news for Kevin Ratcliffe's men as flying winger Sam Aiston was stretchered from the field just before the break with suspected knee ligament damage that could rule him out for the next six weeks.
Although Shrewsbury dominated this entertaining encounter for long periods, they had to breathe a huge sigh of relief in the closing stages.
Exeter's impressive new boy, former Newcastle United man James Coppinger crashed a shot past Shrews keeper Ian Dundavin from the edge of the box, only for the ball to strike the crossbar and rebound to safety.
Moments earlier, however, Shrewsbury had Dundavin to thank for protecting their lead when he made a terrific fingertip save to keep out a powerful header from Exeter substitute Steve Flack.
Until the final quarter hour Shrewsbury had held the upper hand and went close on a number of occasions before Rodgers struck decisively on 44 minutes.
Strike partner and Shrews skipper Nigel Jemson cleverly flicked the ball into Rodgers' path and he outpaced the Exeter defence before coolly slotting the ball past the advancing City keeper Kevin Miller.
As the second half unfolded Shrewsbury continued to press with midfield man Mark Atkins and centre-back Matt Redmile both going close to extending the lead.
But with Shrewsbury unable to increase their advantage, Exeter came back strongly at the death, with Coppinger only inches away from salvaging the visitors a point