Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill delighted with 'excellent' second half in Derby draw
Steve Cotterill was disappointed with his side's first-half display in the draw at Derby - but pleased with their 'excellent' reaction in the second period as Salop had chances to take all three points.
Town got a much-deserved point at Pride Park as they battled to a 2-2 draw against an in-form Derby County, a side who had only conceded four goals in their last 11 home matches.
Despite a hard-earned point, Town trailed at the break, thanks to a rocket of a strike from Haydon Roberts in the 20th minute and David McGoldrick's effort on the stroke of half-time.
And the Town boss was disappointed with the way his side started the game saying they 'wasted' the first 45 minutes.
He said: "Comeback - that's the verdict. We didn't play anywhere near in the first half like we know we can. I think we came here and gave them too much respect which is easy to do, I understand it - the size of the club, the support, and the players they have.
"But for me, we wasted the first 45 minutes of the game. At half-time, we had a little bit of a reshuffle, a little bit of a talking to."
The boss went to his bench at the interval, introducing Rekeil Pyke and Carl Winchester as Shrews changed from a back three to a back four.
Pyke made an immediate impact winning a free-kick which Tom Bayliss converted from distance to make it 2-1 as it went in past Joe Wildsmith.
And then after that, Luke Leahy got his 10th goal of the season when he converted another penalty which he had won himself sending the Town fans into meltdown.
Cotterill was pleased with the reaction his players showed.
He said: "I thought in the second half we were excellent. Not only coming back to 2-2 but I think we could've won the game in the second half. I suppose at 2-0 you would take 2-2, but I thought we were that dominant in the second half...
"When you've got 10 minutes of added-on time the crowd lift all of a sudden. We've worked extremely hard to get back into the game.
"The quality of the substitutes that they can bring on, I was a little bit worried that the ball would drop to one of them in those 10 minutes of added-on time. That would've been a travesty today because considering how we'd played in the second half if we'd have gone and lost that game. [It shows] good character from the boys."
Killian Phillips took a nasty blow to the head in the second half, and he went off after colliding with Derby's Eiran Cashin.
And Cotterill revealed after the match that Shrewsbury's midfielder, who is on loan from Crystal Palace was 'not in a good way'.
He said: "He's not in a good way at this moment in time. He's definitely not in a good way. He is a brave boy as well. We will have to see what we do with him."
