Positive Shrewsbury duo to be assessed
Shrewsbury Town will assess duo Marko Marosi and Matthew Pennington as they return to training next week following positive Covid-19 cases.
The duo returned positive Covid tests last week and subsequently missed the FA Cup tie at Stratford Town and EFL Trophy trip to Wigan Athletic in midweek.
Manager Steve Cotterill revealed the pair, both regulars this season after arriving at the club in the summer, completed 10 days of isolation on Wednesday and have undertaken some light training. The club will monitor how they respond to the workouts.
Town have been given the weekend off by the boss due to the international football-related postponement to Saturday’s Rotherham clash, and the squad will return to Sundorne Castle on Monday.
“They’ve gone through the isolation protocols,” Cotterill said. “We’ve ended up having one of them in for an hour in an afternoon doing a little bit of light work getting them back moving.
“And the other one we’ve had two days back in for an hour in the afternoons.
“We just need to see how they react, how they are, first thing every morning, to find out whether we do anything further that day, or whether we pull it back in.
“It’s been a bit of a tricky period that we’ve had with a few things like that, a couple of injuries, a few coughs and cold, they’re winding up, it’s that time of year.
“I think it’s, I don’t know, maybe a good time for them to have a little break from each other and let them rest and recuperate for a little bit and go back to start again next week, that’s the plan.”
Cotterill said he felt having Town players in training over a weekend with no match ‘would not be the right thing to do’ after a busy period of games.
Saturday’s Montgomery Waters Meadow meeting with Rotherham was postponed due to Millers’ international commitments. It is the first fixture Town have had postponed due to internationals this term.
Cotterill said: “I think it probably is (a good thing) at the moment, I think it’s a good time to have a break. That was why it was a good thing we ended up getting Josh (Vela) and Shaun Whalley through the Wigan game.
“It’s good to have a break, it gives Marko and Matthew a bit more time, because they’ll need a bit more time, hopefully it’s good for us.”