Shrewsbury Town's returning players working to reach full fitness

Shrewsbury have suffered with injuries this term – but in the last few weeks players like Julien Dacosta and Elliott Bennett have come back into the first-team fold.

But the Salop boss has warned that just because players are on the bench, does not mean they are match fit, especially when they have had so much time away from the game on the treatment table.

He said: “When you see names on the bench – it doesn’t always mean they are ready and fit. We put Elliott (Bennett) back in the team too early but it was a case of necessity.

“We can’t all of a sudden think everyone is up and running like they are at the end of pre-season. That doesn’t happen.

“Julien Dacosta, for example, is doing extra work with the fitness coach after training.

“When players have been out for the best part of five months – normally in the off-season you’ll have two months where you’ll be away from the club.

“It might be eight weeks, it might be seven weeks depending on what World Cup year we are in and what other competitions are going on. Normally at the end of the season you have a two-week shutdown. Then all of the players I have ever managed will have a five-or-six-week build-up where they have to do three sessions a week.

“Three sessions a week – 40 minutes, a 75 per cent heartrate. Then when they come back in pre-season they are not incredibly unfit. “When players miss that or don’t have that – it’s no coincidence that players who come into the club struggle.Even the lads that came in last year that are fit boys, they struggled at the start of pre-season because they hadn’t done an off-season programme.

“So when now we talk about players in our squad being out for five months, why do we think a week or two’s training is good enough for them to be in the team? It’s not.

“Sometimes the players think that. But anyone who thinks they are going to be back fit after a week’s training is deluded.

“That is the reason pre-season is six weeks after two months off. After five months off, how long do you need?”

Meanwhile, Shrewsbury Town’s end-of-season trip to Lincoln City has been moved due to King Charles III’s coronation.

Town were due to face the Imps at Sincil Bank on Saturday, May 6. However, the coronation will now take place on that day meaning all EFL fixtures have been moved. Salop will now make the trip on Sunday, May 7 – kicking off at noon.