Shropshire Star

'Angry and embarrassed' Luke Leahy: Shrewsbury Town crumbled against Doncaster

Stand-in captain Luke Leahy claimed Shrewsbury Town 'crumbled' in the second half as relegation-threatened Doncaster salvaged a late point.

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Luke Leahy of Shrewsbury Town.

Steve Cotterill's hosts were relentless in the first half as goals from Daniel Udoh, Ryan Bowman and Shaun Whalley appeared to have all-but condemned the visitors to relegation.

But Town did not turn up after the break and the visitors fought back to score immediately through loan centre-forward Mipo Odubeko before half-time substitute Reo Griffiths added a second.

And Salop fans responded furiously to right-back Kyle Knoyle's 94th-minute leveller - which just about keeps his side safe of mathematical relegation for now – while Shrewsbury were left four games without a win in 16th.

Leahy, who wore the armband in the absence of injured duo Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Elliott Bennett, said: "I'm angry, disappointed, embarrassed. We come off at half-time at 3-0 up and fans clapping and then 45 or 50 minutes later we are booed off with every right to.

"The second half isn't a standard that's good enough for this football club and us players have to take huge responsibility for that.

"The first half was good, we did stuff nice stuff, stuff we'd worked on the training ground.

"They let us play out from the back, have it deep, they changed it at half-time and came at us and we crumbled basically, we didn't know what to do.

"We didn't have options on the ball, make any runs forward like the first half. That's a big downer."

Leahy was involved in Town's first two goals for strike pair Udoh and Bowman but admitted it felt the team did not do enough to respond to Doncaster's change of approach at the interval.

And the versatile Leahy, who once more played at left centre-back, knows the afternoon will be remember for a Town collapse despite some good work early on.

"In the first half everything was coming off, passes reached their intended person," he said.

"They changed their style of pressing and we didn't know what to do. Us players should look at it and think 'something's changed here' and we didn't do it.

"It's not good enough. The first one we head out and someone's running on to it. The third is the same again, two of them there and both of them could've put it in.

"It's disappointing because first half we did some nice things but ultimately that today will be remembered for conceding three in the second half.

"They were quality goals (Shrewsbury's), but it will be remembered for Shrewsbury being 3-0 up and finishing with a point."