Steve Cotterill: Break will do Shrewsbury Town good

Town were condemned to back-to-back away League One defeats, which saw them slip to 20th, at Wigan and Doncaster to end a challenging week on the road, in which a small squad was stretched to the limit.

The defeat at Doncaster, who entered the contest bottom, means Cotterill’s men remain winless away from home in the league this term.

Town do not play in midweek again until after Christmas, however, as a run of key fixtures against bottom half teams Cheltenham, Fleetwood and Accrington sees out 2021 and Cotterill insists there is no time to dwell.

“I don’t think I need to publicly chastise any of the lads, they’re old enough and experienced enough, we work on things,” Cotterill said of the defeat at Doncaster, where his side dominated the second half but were hit with a late sucker-punch.

“They know when they play well and they know when they don’t.

“They had an incredibly tough week. Not only physically it’s been tough for them, but mentally it has as well. We’ve got to lick our wounds and move on quickly.

“I was just disappointed for them because they’re all really good, honest, hard-working lads, on Saturday they gave their all, they absolutely gave their all. But you could just see they were flat, they were tired, they had a real demanding week and it’s been tough on them.”

Town are at least boosted on the availability front next time out, at home to Cheltenham on Saturday, with David Davis back from a four-match suspension.

It remains to be seen whether Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Aaron Pierre or Ryan Bowman will recover in time.

“Well obviously you don’t want any injuries or suspensions, needless ones, we would’ve liked to have more players available to us that have been starting last week but that hasn’t been the case,” Cotterill added.

“Even as tired as we were, I still feel we made a good fist of that (Doncaster) game. Probably what we needed to do was play this game at home, because I think the crowd would’ve given us more energy and maybe more thrust at home.”

One Town man to have racked up the minutes over the last couple of weeks is teenage star Tom Bloxham.

The 18-year-old forward has started in each of Town’s last five games after forcing his way in. Bloxham completed 90 minutes at Doncaster despite a toe nail issue earlier last week. Cotterill has previously spoken on managing his minutes.

“I actually thought Tom funnily enough looked strong enough to stay on,” Cotterill added.

“The other games where he’s had to come off I didn’t think so, but he looked strong enough to stay on, which is a bonus for him as well.”