Shrewsbury Town boss Sam Ricketts frustrated by Ryan Giles switch

Town boss Ricketts said a player like left-sided flier Giles, who spent the first half of the season at Shrews before being recalled by his parent club, would have been the difference in the last-gasp 1-0 defeat at Rochdale on Saturday.

Giles, who joined league rivals Coventry on loan, was one of ‘two or three’ players Ricketts aimed to bring in to boost Town’s squad last Friday, with the boss confirming former favourite Greg Docherty as another. But Shrews, who also tried to sign a centre-forward, could not strike a deal before Saturday’s trip to Spotland which ended in home substitute Tyler Smith rattling home two minutes from time.

“It was obviously disappointing, we worked incredibly hard with Ryan this season,” said Ricketts, whose remain 16th in League One ahead of tomorrow night’s historic FA Cup trip to Anfield.

“You can see his game improving as the season went on, he was certainly a big asset for us.

“I’m disappointed with Wolves recalling him through injury and then with him going back out, it’s bitterly disappointing he didn’t come here.

“It was a bit of everything (Giles not returning), it would’ve been great to have him back in a game like this where we could’ve brought him on with 20 or 30 minutes to go and he’d win us the game.

"He’d won us many games like that.”

The boss added on Docherty, who joined Hibernian on loan from Rangers at the latter’s wish: “We’d spoken, we were hopeful and weren’t a million miles away. He was one of a couple we tried to give us that little bit more.”

One January addition made his debut at Spotland as Fleetwood loanee Conor McAleny caught the eye on an impressive Salop bow. But Ricketts’ men were made to pay for not converting any of their their numerous promising positions.

But the boss felt that last week’s missed targets would have made his side a different proposition.

He added: “You do get frustrated because if you do get those names through the door then it’s a completely different kettle of fish.

“We would start looking at things hugely differently, we were certainly trying to bring a couple in but unfortunately we weren’t able to. They were ones that would’ve made the difference.”