Luke Leahy: Shrewsbury hard work is paying dividends
Shrewsbury’s recent results are a reward for the hard yards they are putting in on the training ground, says captain Luke Leahy.
Town have won their last five League One games in succession for the first time in almost eight years.
The most recent of those wins came last weekend with a 1-0 victory over Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium – thanks to Ryan Bowman’s winner with 15 minutes remaining.
And the skipper Leahy has attributed the team’s success to the work they have been doing on the training ground, and he believes they have performed well for a while and now they are getting the rewards for it with results.
“Hard work around this place here (the training ground),” he said when asked what Town’s excellent form was down to. “We had a couple of tough results before this good run we have been on. But we weren’t playing bad or anything, especially the Sunderland game, we did not deserve to lose that 2-1.
“I think we took a lot of confidence from that game and it has shown, the subs have made an impact. We see them training every day working hard to try and get into that starting XI, and when they have been called upon they have turned up.”
And Leahy has urged his Shrewsbury team-mates to keep the standards high suggesting they have not achieved anything yet with a big proportion of the season still left to go.
“We have got to keep that going,” he continued.
“I always think what you put in you get out. We have put a lot into the last seven or eight games, and we have got our just rewards in the last four or five games.
“But we have not done anything yet, we have 18 games left it is about sticking together and building on what we have already done.”
Meanwhile, the skipper’s brilliant individual form in January has been recognised by the EFL, with the energetic midfielder receiving a nomination for the Sky Bet League One Player of the Month Award thanks to his three goals and two assists throughout the month.
He is joined by Bolton’s Dion Charles, Charlton’s Scott Fraser and Sheffield Wednesday’s Josh Windass.
Leahy is not the only one at Shrewsbury to be recognised, manager Steve Cotterill has been nominated for the Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month Award for the side’s impressive form.
Cotterill is up against Darren Moore (Sheffield Wednesday), Paul Warne (Derby) and Derek Adams (Morecambe).
