Steve Cotterill disappointed Shrewsbury couldn't reward travelling support

Town and the Railwaymen shared the points at Gresty Road in a competitive scoreless draw that sees Cotterill's men remain 15th in League One.

Lowly hosts Crewe, who have picked up some good wins of late, were second-best as in-form Salop knocked on the door in a livelier first period and towards the end of the contest, where they almost clinched maximum spoils.

Salop - who are now five unbeaten in League One with four straight clean sheets - had a seemingly legitimate early opener ruled out for an alleged foul before chances came and went, including one fine flying save from Crewe's Dave Richards to deny Matty Pennington.

Salop were once again roared on by a large and vocal following six days after more than 5,500 made the memorable trip to Anfield in the FA Cup. It continues a recent trend of rampant Salop support and the Town boss was sorry his side couldn't find a winner for fans to enjoy with their drinks tonight.

"It was brilliant, I've said for a little while now they see what the lads are giving and they're giving back to the lads," Cotterill said of an away gate of 1,454 fans.

"We're only sorry today we haven't given them three points to go home with, which would've been nice.

"A short trip home, they'd have been in the pubs a little bit earlier or having a bottle of beer a little bit earlier, so we're sorry we haven't been able to give that, we really would've liked to have done.

"But I'm sure we'll be forgiven, there was plenty of effort."

The boss added on the contest on a dry Gresty Road pitch: "It's probably no more than that, an away point.

"It's another clean sheet, which is good. I felt as though it was a game we should've won in the second half, we had enough chances.

"We had a few good shots on target, Dave Richards made a couple of great saves for them, a keeper I know well from Bristol City. He played really well.

"It is what it is, a point on the board away from home.

"It was always going to be a tough game for us after last weekend. We didn't want to come and get beat and we didn't do that, thankfully.

"I felt we could've been a bit sharper in the first half, I think the pitch is difficult here, not just for us for the home team as well.

"I saw them in the week, they beat Charlton (on Wednesday), all in all it's not a bad point.

"I felt the longer the game went on we would come into it, just perhaps not enough for the goal."

Cotterill named the same Town line-up for a fifth game in all competitions as he looks to add to sole January loan signing Saikou Janneh this month.

He opted against a substitute against the Alex and explained the decision: "It's taken us a while to get to that (consistent team).

"If the first half had have been in the second half I could've made changes, I think there was a few areas to sharpen up.

"But those boys, after half-time, I felt got our focus back and sharpness back in the second half.

"Then maybe there was a little hangover from last weekend, we've gone to Liverpool, done ourselves justice, played really well, scored a good goal from the training ground. Maybe we got a lot of praise last week and were quite down (today).

"When you get this game, whatever it is, it brings you down.

"We've still got a lot of stuff to work on and try to see if anybody from that bench can break up what has been that starting line-up for a little while now and force their way in.

"And then when we get that, which'll be the next progression, we'll get stronger and stronger hopefully."