Darlington folded to a burst of three second-half goals in the space of nine minutes at Gay Meadow last night and earned a verbal blast from new manager Tommy Taylor.
Quakers looked as if they were going to hold on for a point in a defensive and uninspiring game until the pace of Luke Rodgers tore them apart in the second half.
Taylor, who has yet to taste victory as Darlington manager, locked his players in the dressing room for 20 minutes after the game and said: "Some of the players just aren't mentally strong enough, they gave up too easily.
"We needed players to roll up their sleeves and battle but it didn't happen with some of them.
"I'm going to have a word with the chairman about moving some of them out."
Quakers kept the game tight in the opening 10 minutes but Luke Rogers exposed them with his pace down the right after 11 minutes and set up Mark Atkins, whose shot was blocked 10 yards out. Quakers nearly snatched the lead after 40 minutes from their first corner which Simon Betts curled to the far post for Barry Conlon to head over the bar.
The deadlock was broken after 71 minutes. Darlington didn't clear a free-kick from Greg Rioch, and the ball dropped nicely for the unmarked Moss to volley right-footed into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Two minutes later Shrewsbury went two up from the spot through Nigel Jemson after Alex Jeannin had tripped Rodgers in full flight.
Rodgers rounded Andy Collett before walking the ball into the net to make it 3-0 on 79 minutes.
And Quakers frustrations boiled over five minutes from the end when Conlon collected his second yellow card for a foul on Rioch, while a yellow card for Maddison late in the game ensured the Quakers will also receive a fine from the FA for reaching six bookings.
