First Division Colchester today avoided a cup shock and recorded another FA Cup win at Shrewsbury when they secured a 2-1 victory at the home of their League Two opponents.
This entertaining, but often ill-tempered encounter, was ultimately decided by a 50th minute header from impressive Colchester striker Chris Iwelumo.
His early second-half strike followed first-half goals from Jamie Cureton, who fired the Layer Road outfit into a 21st minute lead, only for Shrewsbury's man of the match Dave Edwards to equalise two minutes before the break.
After scoring 29 goals in their last five matches, including five without reply at Gillingham last Saturday, Colchester began in confident fashion and after seven minutes Greg Halford brought an excellent save from young Shrewsbury goalkeeper Joe Hart.
But he had no chance when Cureton broke the deadlock with the former QPR hitman pouncing on a loose ball to fire home from 10 yards.
Colchester continued to hold sway for the remainder of the half only to be pegged back 90 seconds before the break when Edwards swept the ball home from close range after Richard Hope had headed back across the six-yard box.
But fife minutes after the restart, Colchester regained the lead with Iwelumo scoring with a firm header from Halford's pin-point cross.
While that proved the end of the scoring, the drama continued with chances at both ends.
There was also tension off the pitch as, with 10 minutes remaining, Gary Peters and his opposite number Phil Parkinson were sent to the stands following a touchline altercation.