Steve Cotterill: Shrewsbury can’t lose Tom Flanagan’s edge

Flanagan has been an essential part of Town’s success in the last month, which has seen the Shropshire side win their last six League One games in succession and trail sixth-placed Barnsley by just three points.

But the defender missed Town’s clash with Port Vale at the weekend and is set to miss their game at Exeter tomorrow night after he picked up his 10th booking of the season at the Kassam Stadium against Oxford more than seven days ago.

And the Shrewsbury boss says there is a fine line that aggressive players like Flanagan must tread.

“I think it is about how Tom is playing,” the boss said about the defender. “Yes he is an aggressive defender, you want your strikers to be aggressive, you want your goalkeeper to be aggressive when he is going to catch a cross.

“You want your team to be aggressive because it means they are hungry and they want to win the game.

“I think that Tom has picked up more bookings this season than I think he should have done, we have spoken about that.

“But what you can’t do is take away his competitive edge, because if you take away his competitive edge, he is half the player.

“With the players, I am more annoyed when they pick up the silly ones, I don’t like it when they pick up bookings for dissent really.

“It is a difficult line with players, because all of a sudden if I say to him, ‘back off a little bit’, then if you back off and the striker goes and bends one in the top corner and I say why don’t you go tight Tom, and then he will say ‘well you told me not to go tight gaf’.

“So it is a fine line, Tom is a competitive defender, and so be it really.”