Ryan Bowman’s perfect hat-trick helped Shrewsbury to a 4-1 win over Cambridge and lifted them out of the Sky Bet League One relegation zone.

His treble and a late strike from Luke Leahy made it back-to-back home league wins for the first time this season.

Shrewsbury led six minutes in as George Nurse picked out Bowman and the forward powered a header home.

Daniel Udoh and Shaun Whalley were denied by Dimitar Mitov, before the goalkeeper’s afternoon was cut short after a clash with Udoh.

Ethan Ebanks-Landell had an effort ruled out for handball, with Nurse and Matthew Pennington going close to a second soon after, before Jack Iredale fired home from 25 yards to level the game just short of the hour.

The game then changed as Adam May was sent off for a heavy tackle and the hosts took full advantage.

Bowman fired home left-footed to make it 2-1, before completing his hat-trick seven minutes from time as he chopped inside and fired home.

Leahy swept the ball home on 90 minutes to complete the scoring.