Shropshire Star

"He will only get better" - Michael Appleton on Shrewsbury Town attacker

Callum Stewart should be pleased with his first start for Shrewsbury Town, believes interim boss Michael Appleton.

Published

The January signing from non-league Leamington was handed his full debut in Easter Monday's 4-1 defeat at Northampton Town, which confirmed Shrewsbury's status as the worst team in League One this season.

Despite that, Appleton believes there were some positives to take - not least Stewart's first full game of professional football.

"He was fine," said Appleton. "It wasn’t a difficult game for him in how it panned out.

"People will only look at the score and see that. There is a lot more to this game than meets the eye.

"There was a lot of good stuff and Callum was part of that. There were other teams who did really well, there were just too many who didn’t.

"Callum can be happy regardless of the scoreline and how his first start went. He was nearly on the end of a couple of things and he will only get better and keep improving."

The 23-year-old became Town's first signing of the January window, stepping up three divisions from where he had been top scorer for Leamington in National League North.

At the time of his signing, he said: “I’ve got to adapt to the step up but I'm looking to break into the team, score goals and get points on the board.”

And after 12 substitute appearances, he achieved his goal of breaking into the team at the 13th time of asking at Sixfields Stadium.

He will have two more opportunities to add to that start - when Shrewsbury travel to Barnsley on Saturday before ending their campaign at home to Crawley Town on May 3.