Shrewsbury forced to rest Jordan Shipley
Giving Jordan Shipley a rest last week was something Steve Cotterill felt he had to do rather than something he wanted to do.
The Town boss left Shipley out of the starting XI for the game against Peterborough United last week as he switched to a back four.
The versatile wing-back has enjoyed a good start to life at Shrewsbury Town since joining in the summer from Coventry City.
The 25-year-old has started 33 out of their 36 league games, making two substitute appearances with one of those coming against Posh last week. The game he missed was due to the birth of his child.
But playing at wing-back is a specialist and demanding position and Cotterill rotated him out of the XI against Peterborough with Taylor Moore filling on on the left to give him a breather.
“It is something I have to do,” the boss said when asked about rotating Shipley out of the team.
“I don’t really have a choice with it, whether I want to do it or I don’t want to do it.
“If I had Nursey (George Nurse) this would have been easy, this season would have been so much easier if I would have had George, and Dan too that would have been handy as well.
“But it would have been so much easier with George because he is the only specialised one out there if you know what I mean.
“I think we could probably do Taylor Moore there and Benno (Elliott Bennett) and that might come before the end of the season, but I don’t know that at this moment in time.”
Meanwhile, Cotterill has also said the team’s on-field success is down to hard work put in by the players and the staff.
But while he makes sure the players stay focused on the job - when it is appropriate they have a laugh too.
“They are probably not allowed to (become complacent) because we do not let them do that,” he continued.
“We are grounded and we all work hard but don’t get me wrong we do not just work hard we do have fun times down at the training ground as well.
“That is the other side of it, whilst we work, when there is a time to play hard and have a laugh we play hard too.
“That is always good, and the good thing about it is that everyone is involved in it. There is no one who is left out. That is the bonus, it is a good recipe for a changing room.”
