How Bristol Rovers must love playing at Shrewsbury.
Without an away win since their visit to Gay Meadow in January, Ray Graydon's men turned on the style to beat hapless Shrewsbury 5-2 with striker Giuliano Grazioli helping himself to a hat-trick.
Grazioli, who hit the national headlines five years ago by scoring twice for non-league Stevenage against Newcastle in the FA Cup, opened his account ten minutes before the break and followed this with a further strike in the 53rd minute, before completing his hat-trick ten minutes later.
Vitalijs Astafjevs and Wayne Carlisle were also on target for the visitors, with Karl Murray and Luke Rodgers netting for the home side, who will want to forget this week in a hurry following their 2-1 defeat at Torquay on Tuesday evening.
After an opening half-hour during which Rovers created the more clear cut openings, Grazioli broke the deadlock in the 35th minute scoring with a diving header after Shrews' goalkeeper Ian Dunbavin had palmed out a stinging cross shot from the impressive Paul Tait.
But Rovers' interval lead lasted just two minutes into the second half, when Scott Howie was deceived by Murray's shot, palming the ball into the net as he attempted to turn it over the bar.
Shrewsbury's joy was short-lived however, Grazioli scoring with a simple tap-in to restore the visitors' lead and Astafjevs then increasing the visitors' advantage with a low drive, before Grazioli completed his hat-trick following good work down the right from Carlisle.
Although Rodgers pulled one back for Shrewsbury with his sixth goal of the season, scoring with a close range header, any hopes of a comeback were demolished when Carlisle added a fifth, following in after Dunbavin had blocked a shot from Tait.
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