‘Back to basics’ as Steve Cotterill looks for a Shrewsbury new year ‘reset’

Town had a really positive first half of the season, picking up good results and consistent performances – and Cotterill’s men had won their last three games before Christmas.

But the festive period did not work out the way Shrewsbury planned, with them losing all three of their festive fixtures.

Officiating was not something that helped Town, as they were awarded a red card in each game – two of those have now been overturned by the FA after the club appealed.

And Cotterill said his side have had a ‘reset’ this week, which has included a chance to do some work on the training ground ahead of their clash with Sunderland in the FA Cup this afternoon.

He said: “We have probably had to reset a little bit this week, and gone back to basics on a few things.

“Just because sometimes those reminders to a few people need to be integrated back into training again.

“I would still say we would have picked up more points over the last week than we did had we been able to play with 11 men all game.”

Town have suffered with bad luck on the injury front too, and the same 11 players pretty much started every game throughout November and December.

The fixture schedule during that time, for the first time this season, was kinder to Shrews as they played once a week. But three games in seven days over the festive period proved a step too far for Shrews’ players.

And although the boss did not want to admit it at the time, he feels tiredness will have played a massive part.

“I think also, that tiredness seemed to hit the players,” he continued. “I was probably a little bothered about that when I was looking at that throughout the week.

“But I did not want to say anything to you guys (the media) because I don’t want them to read it.

“I don’t want them to read what I say about them when I am reading them when I am looking at them.”

Meanwhile, Town wing-back Elliott Bennett returned to the Shrewsbury team over the festive period after getting over a calf problem and he was delighted to be back.

He said: “I have done a lot of work with the physios and the fitness staff to try and get myself back ready.

“We managed to be ahead of schedule, which is what I was aiming for. I have got to try and stay fit now and help the team out in any way that I can.

“You follow the people behind the scenes with the sports science side of things, you have to listen to them they are the experts.

“They have done all their degrees and learnt about it.

“It is not nice being injured you just want to be out there on the grass, I found if you listen to them and try and do everything they say, then you give yourself the best chance to be back as soon as you can.”