Steve Cotterill: Hard work pays off for Chey Dunkley

Dunkley played a pivotal role in Shrewsbury’s 4-0 victory over Burton Albion this weekend in both boxes.

He made a vital block on the line to stop John Brayford from cancelling out Christian Saydee’s opener, and then in stoppage time he got his head to a corner that he had won with a Cruyff turn in the Burton box.

Since arriving in the summer, Dunkley has started every league game for Shrewsbury, and he has made a real impression at the Meadow.

And the Town boss is pleased for the 30-year-old, a player who is always trying to improve himself.

He said: “He works every day to get better.

“And I said the other week about him improving as a player

“We do enough work on set-pieces though, so it’s nice when it pays dividends.

“But Chey Dunkley around that back post – what a great guy he is.

“What a great guy. We have got lots of them in our dressing room.

“You only have to see at the end, he’s produced a Cruyff turn in the box – that’s Chey Dunkley we are talking about having a Cruyff!

“You don’t expect the first bit (the Cruyff turn) to get the corner. But the second bit you do expect.

“And you saw with the lads – they are straight over to him when scores. He is a really popular guy in the dressing room.”

Meanwhile, the Shrewsbury Town boss revealed Aiden O’Brien could leave Shrewsbury this month.

The forward has struggled since he arrived in the summer, not making a League One start and battling groin and hip injuries.

And the boss said the forward’s future will probably be elsewhere, as he wants to move closer to his family.

“No Aiden O’Brien’s future will probably be somewhere else,” Cotterill said on the forward.

“I think there will be something happening this month.

“I think he wants to go closer to his family.

“So that is one we have tried to address in the week.”

The boss said last week that Town will need to move people on before they can make any further additions in the January transfer window.

They have made one signing already this month, bringing in Killian Phillips on loan from Crystal Palace for the rest of the season.

And in terms of moving O’Brien on, he said there may be a ‘few’ interested parties, but they do not have a time scale for it yet.

“Maybe imminently but I do not know,” the experienced boss continued.

“There are a couple of people interested, geography I suppose will be the important part of that.”

“So yes, that is how I see that one panning out, nothing urgent on it, but that is how I see it panning out.”