Pre-game re-shuffle not to blame for Shrewsbury defeat says Steve Cotterill
Steve Cotterill said Shrewsbury’s reshuffle 20 minutes before kick-off was not to blame for their defeat at Cambridge United, and they must move on with more games on the horizon.
Tom Flanagan was originally down on the team sheet, as normal on the left of the back three, but the defender has been battling with a bug, and after warming up it was decided Flanagan was not fit enough to play.
It meant Shrews had to make a last-minute adjustment to their starting XI, with Taylor Moore moving to centre-back and Rekeil Pyke coming in at right wing-back.
And Cotterill said his side did enough regardless of that for the points, and he was reluctant to blame the reshuffle for the defeat.
He said: “It does not help when you have to make that change at 20 to three, but that is not the reason (Salop lost).
“If you look at our performance in the second half, we should have won the game 3-0 or 4-0.
“Tom is not very well, but we are not going to heap it on him for being poorly, as I thought Taylor Moore played very well in his place.
“We have had to work with what we’ve had to work with. The last time we had a hiccup like this was when Jordan Shipley had to go home when his partner was having a baby. It’s never a straight swap, like-for-like.
“It is what it is, and we just have to take it on the chin.”
“What we have to do now is bounce back with a win over Cheltenham.”
