Steve Cotterill insists relationships are blooming among Shrewsbury players
Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill thinks relationships are developing between his players at the Meadow.
Town made nine signings in the summer, which is a lot of new faces to bed into a team.
Two of those were Tom Bayliss and Jordan Shipley, who are relishing their relationship on the pitch, linking up on several occasions to provide Town with important goals so far this season.
Earlier in the season, the boss had urged the pair to do more for his team, and they have – either scoring goals or creating them – and the boss is delighted with that.
He said: “When I said I would like to see more from them, I also did say to counteract that by saying they know each other as people, but the playing bit I was hoping would come quicker with those two as they already knew each other from Coventry.
“We have managed to get that.”
The pair combined again on Saturday to get Shrewsbury’s second goal, Shipley with the assist and Bayliss with a great finish.
And it was a well-worked team goal that the boss said they practice regularly.
“That is from the training ground,” the boss said.
“There is lots of hard work that goes into training, lots of planning, lots of preparation and lots of energy from the players to be able to do it.
“We are really pleased with that. A lot of work goes into that from the staff, making sure the boys are ready.
“The fitness coaches, the physios – a lot goes into making sure we can replicate that on the pitch and in matches.”
Town are developing relationships all over the pitch – Matthew Pennington, Tom Flanagan and Chey Dunkley have been key components of Shrews’ team.
The trio kept a clean sheet at the weekend, and much of Salop’s good start to the season has been built on solid foundations and good organisation.
And Cotterill is pleased with the way they have adapted to playing with each other, as it was another new partnership that was formed at the start of the season.
He continued: “You can look at Matthew Pennington and Tom Flanagan, they have played together before.
“But they had not played together with Chey Dunkley in the middle of them and they had to learn that relationship as well.
“People don’t realise how difficult it is for players to settle in sometimes when they come into a club.”
