Didier Drogba paid tribute to Shrewsbury after Chelsea were made to work hard to secure their place in the Capital One Cup quarterfinals.
Drogba put the Premier League leaders ahead three minutes after half-time at Greenhous Meadow but the Shrews were level in the 77th minute when substitute Andy Mangan scored 84 seconds after coming on.
However, Jermaine Grandison's 81st-minute own goal broke Shrewsbury's hearts and gave Chelsea a 2-1 victory.
After the match, Drogba was quick to praise the performance of the League Two club, who are some 72 places below the Blues in the Football League ladder.
"Fantastic team, fantastic opponent,'' he told Sky Sports of Shrewsbury.
"I think they gave everything and I think they showed today why they deserve to be here tonight and they made a very difficult game for us really.''
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho saluted his golden oldie after Drogba helped spare Chelsea's blushes.
Diego Costa is expected to return against QPR on Saturday following a virus and hamstring and groin problems, but Mourinho said Drogba was an example to his squad after his key impact.
"Yes I was worried when they equalised but we go through and Didier played a massive part in that," Mourinho said. "Hopefully he will be good for the weekend but we will have to see because right now his character is stronger than his body.
"Maybe what he has done today is through his character -- not his body. That's what makes players special and any of the young players lucky enough to play alongside him, learn from that."
Mourinho admitted he feared extra-time before Grandison's own goal.
"Yes I was worried when they equalised," he said. "Shrewsbury put up a great fight. They are what the cups are all about. I expect players to give me problems. I love problems. But a lot of them didn't and they've made it easy to choose my team for Saturday."
Shrewsbury boss Micky Mellon was pleased with his side's performance but declared himself "gutted'' by the outcome.
He said: "I just said to the players there, if someone would have said that we would have felt gutted and disappointed at the end of a game against Chelsea, we probably would have taken that emotion because it meant we would have been pleased, but we're gutted because we lost it on little bits of detail.
"Losing a goal so early in the second half and then, when we had good possession of the ball on the far side, we fall and they catch us on the break and that's why they're where they are.''