Shrewsbury's Elliott Bennett praised for behind the scenes work

The 34-year-old had not featured for Town since he went off in their 1-1 draw against Oxford United at the start of November, and the initial prognosis suggested he could be out for 12 weeks.

But there was confidence from the player and the staff at the club he may be able to come back sooner – and he has done.

He made a brief cameo against Cheltenham but played a much bigger part against Fleetwood, coming on in the 18th minute after Tom Flanagan picked up an injury.

The boss is pleased with the way Bennett has worked to get himself back into contention.

Cotterill said: "We are pleased with how Elliott has done.

"He has worked hard to get himself back to the stage he is at now.

"He is an experienced player and a great lad, and he has been integral to the team, we all know this season how many right wing-backs we have had for a start.

"They have all played well there, had Elliott been available in the games and everyone else is fit he might not have had to have played as many games as he did last year, and therefore we do not burn him out.

"When one of them burns out after 60 or 70 minutes you can put somebody else on."

Bennett has played in a variety of positions in his career, including on the left side of midfield.

And Cotterill says the return of the wing-back could allow Town to share the workload.

"We have not had that luxury, (to take players off), and we have not had that luxury with Jordan Shipley either," he continued

"Maybe when Benno is the frame, we can look at that, and if Ships is dead on his feet, maybe Benno can work off the left for us.

"He has played left wing in his career.

"I think he would be experienced enough to do that one as well.

"We have missed him, we have missed his versatility in the team.

"We have lots of those, and Elliott is the same.

"He can play right wing-back, right wing, he could probably play at right back in a four if we needed him too.

"He has been a loss for us, his game time this year considering what he did last year up until the last maybe five games perhaps it has been a loss not to have him.

"But Taylor Moore has done very very well there, but it is good to have any of them back."