Steve Cotterill: No letting up for Shrewsbury
Steve Cotterill insists there will be no holding back in a hectic week for his threadbare Shrewsbury ranks.
Town are on the road for a second time in a trio of away games in a week at Wigan tonight, having already competed a mammoth first leg at Carlisle last time out.
Cotterill has quipped about ‘living on the bus’ this week as Town also head to Doncaster on Saturday, covering roughly 760 miles in eight days.
The Town boss has several players missing through injury and suspension. His bench is likely to feature youngsters again tonight, but Cotterill insists there is to be no hesitancy on the injury front.
“I want us to be as competitive as we possibly can,” Cotterill vowed. “If that means we get a bump or a bang then we get a bump or a bang.
“You can’t save yourself for the next game and so on and so forth. The time when you start pulling out of challenges and stop competing is when you will get injured.”
Wigan are second in League One and among the favourites for automatic promotion.
Cotterill said: “Saturday-Wednesday (match schedule) is different to Saturday-Tuesday, you have to be slightly careful with the second recovery day because it’s when they really stiffen up after a game.
“So on Monday we did more tactically at probably 70 per cent. A lot of the tactical stuff was completely so yesterday we shortened things down and upped the tempo a little.
“The pitches will get smaller as the week goes on. We’ve got to prepare for tonight and then Wednesday to Saturday is an even quicker turnaround, we plan for today and then tomorrow and Friday take care of Saturday.
“It’s one of those weeks where we will spend a fair bit of time travelling.
“It ends up being a bit of a difficult week really. But it’s all part and parcel, had we been at home in the Cup it wouldn’t have been so bad. We’ve got to be very sharp with our work out on the training ground this week.”
