Shrewsbury Town v Portsmouth: Trusted Ethan Ebanks-Landell grows into the role of leader

Ethan Ebanks-Landell may come over as an understated member of the squad, but his presence during the absence of Town’s leader cannot be overstated, writes Lewis Cox.

The experienced former Wolves defender, 28, comes across extremely relaxed and chilled out, without taking himself too seriously.

He admitted the only change he feels while Shrewsbury captain is that he walks out ahead of his team-mates.

Yet Town first-team coach David Longwell provided a glowing endorsement and explained just why the centre-half is an influential and ‘trusted’ leader among the Salop troops.

“He doesn’t like talking about himself Ethan, he’s quite humble,” Longwell said of Ebanks-Landell, who will wear the armband in the heart of defence tomorrow while Norburn serves the second of a two-match suspension.

“But even in training there’s a real edge about him, and in games. He’s got a great nature, he’s not one to go and moan, he just does his work.

“He’s out on the pitch competing, whether it’s little games they do in travel, he always wants to win. Doing shape work he’s always engaged, he’s a very good example and professional.

“Because he’s got those characteristics, you can trust him in the matches.

“Norbs is the captain when he’s there, but I think Ethan grows another 10 per cent when Norbs isn’t there, with that leadership. Even in the warm-up the other night, I spoke to him before it about driving things and he’s great in doing that.

“He drives the players, we’ve got a number of good characters and everyone shows it in different ways, but we can throw trust on him to put that armband on.”

Longwell says Ebanks-Landell brings a ‘calmness but steeliness’ to the Shrewsbury squad.

The defender, a League One title winner with Sheffield United and Wolves, has been one of Town’s consistent performers this season.

A virtual ever-present – only Ro-Shaun Williams and Josh Vela have started more league games – he has stepped up particularly in the absence of injured defensive partner Aaron Pierre.

“It’s like any other game for me,” Ebanks-Landell said of standing in as captain in the absence of Norburn and Dave Edwards.

“The only difference is probably that I walk out the tunnel first.

“They will see what they see, I’ll just be me, it’s got me this far, why change now? I think I’m pretty vocal on the pitch, one of the more vocal ones.

“We’ve got a reasonably young team, I’m one of the older at 28 and without Edo and Ollie I think it falls to me to lead the boys.”

Pierre and Donald Love are nearing a return from muscle injuries for Town.

Steve Cotterill’s men face an interesting prospect of Portsmouth under the stewardship of new management team Danny and Nicky Cowley tomorrow. The pair replaced Kenny Jackett earlier this month.

The brothers, who with Lincoln beat Shrewsbury in the EFL Trophy final at Wembley and went on to manage Huddersfield in the Championship, were appointed at Fratton Park a couple of weeks ago.

They engineered a solid 2-1 victory against fellow promotion challengers Ipswich for starters last weekend, to end a six-game winless run, and now head to Shropshire.

The visitors are without star attacker Ronan Curtis, who is on international duty with Republic of Ireland. They are eighth, just a point outside the top six.

Longwell said: “They are going to be well organised, well structured, it’s going to be a really tough game.

“It’s hard to know exactly what we’re going to get because one game doesn’t tell you an awful lot. It’s a little bit of an unknown.”