Steve Cotterill: Ryan Bowman would have been Shrewsbury difference-maker

Visitors Town created chance after chance in the second half but were unable to punish a poor Doncaster side before being stung.

Cotterill’s threadbare side did enough to comfortably win the game but the boss said afterwards he felt his patched-up squad, playing the third away game in a week, were visibly tired and lacking sharpness. But he felt the presence of seven-goal striker Bowman, who is out with a hamstring injury, would have sealed the points.

“I think if Ryan Bowman plays on Saturday he scores,” Cotterill said.

“He scores the one Nathanael (Ogbeta) puts across the posts late on, he taps that one in.

“That’s what Ryan Bowman would’ve done for us, but we didn’t have him. Then you’re hoping maybe Dan gets one when he gets that chance.”

Cotterill was without defenders Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Aaron Pierre, striker Bowman and attacker Shaun Whalley, as well as the suspended David Davis at Doncaster. The absentees stretched his already thin ranks.

“I just don’t think we were sharp, in our movements or our brains,” Cotterill added. “They have had an incredible week, a real long week.

“We feel as though whenever we haven’t been playing we’ve been on the bus. Normally the league don’t let you have three away games on the spin, for that reason, because of by the time you get to that third game.

“And also Doncaster had another 24 hours recovery time on us.”