Shrewsbury hoping to blood more young talents after Josh Bailey's EFL bow

Bailey, who has started in Salop’s EFL Trophy games this season, came on for Jordan Shipley as an 81st-minute substitute in the defeat to Barnsley on Saturday.

Alongside Charlie Caton, Tom Bloxham and Josh Barlow, the quartet have broken into the Salop matchday squad – and Cotterill is hopeful of bringing through more youngsters – insisting the club’s academy has more ‘good young kids’ coming through.

He said: “We have got to do that because of the money available to us, we have got to try to develop and have our own. It is funny because if you look at it, it’s ideally not the time to introduce Josh, but we are not in an ideal world here and I think it would have been nice if we would have been two up and put him on to lock a side off.

“He’s a good young kid and we have good young kids here and hopefully we can bring them through but they don’t all come through at the same time.”

Teenage striker Tom Bloxham is one graduate of the Salop academy who has enjoyed more success in the first team than most in recent years.

He made his debut in 2021 and netted his first Salop goal in August last year. However, earlier this season Cotterill laid down a challenge to the young striker stating he needed to do more to increase his playing time. Since then, he was praised by the Shrews boss following an impressive cameo in the FA Cup win over York City, before coming off the bench and looking sharp against Barnsley.

And the Salop boss is hoping the former Leicester City youth is starting to emerge again.

He added: “When they do come through, like Tom Bloxham, Tom has come back this year and been quiet for three or four months. Maybe we are starting to see him emerge again, he’s had a lot on his plate for a young kid.”