Aiden O'Brien backed to make Shrewsbury impact
David Longwell says Aiden O’Brien will add a lot to the team in the coming months after the forward made his first start for Shrewsbury.
The Republic of Ireland international signed for Salop in the summer, but he has struggled for minutes since his debut at Morecambe on the opening day of the League One season due to a hip problem.
But the 29-year-old completed 90 minutes in Town’s defeat to Stockport County on Tuesday evening as part of his recovery from injury.
And Longwell believes he showed on Tuesday night what he can offer to the team.
He said: “He is a very technical player, and I think he will add a lot to the team for the games going forward, and I’m really delighted about that.
“Unfortunately for him, it’s been stop-start for him, but you can see the quality he has got.
“We are just delighted that he played and got the minutes there that we needed him to get.”
Town have a difficult run of fixtures coming up with the team set to take on Charlton at the Meadow this weekend before they travel to Plymouth and Portsmouth next week for two tough away games. Salop currently sit eight in the League One table, and Steve Cotterill will want his team to continue to keep pace with the leaders.
And with Dan Udoh and Geroge Nurse out with long-term injuries, and Julien Dacosta and Matthew Pennington having had groin problems in recent weeks, O’Brien’s return to the starting XI is a welcome boost for Salop.
And Longwell said it is vital he got the minutes into his legs after his injury lay-off.
He said: “It was always that we would try and run him as much as we can and get as much out of him as possible.
“We needed to give Ryan Bowman, Rob Street and Harry Burgoyne minutes as well.
“This is what these games are for, to get these minutes and give young players opportunities, but I think for Aiden, he showed in that game how hard he worked as well as showing us a lot of quality.
“In the game, we dropped him a little deeper to get on the ball a little bit more.
“It’s unfortunate as he did really well to set up a couple of opportunities and on another night we’d have got a goal from it, but the really good thing is that he’s got that in him.”
