Steve Cotterill: Injuries decimating Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury Town cannot continue to plug holes in their starting XI without it eventually catching up with them – according to Steve Cotterill.
Ahead of kick-off at Portman Road on Saturday, it was revealed Tom Bayliss would be out for the rest of the season with the ankle ligament injury he picked up against Morecambe.
Elliott Bennett came in for Bayliss on this occasion but injury problems have been something Cotterill has been juggling all season, with long-term absentees George Nurse and Dan Udoh who have been out since the early stages of the campaign.
More recently, the boss has been without Killian Phillips, as the Crystal Palace loanee recovers from concussion.
Cotterill said: “There is not a lot we can do. Our substitutes are our substitutes and then once we have used them we are done.
“We have just lost two midfield players in the last week. One is out for the season, the other one won’t be back now until we play our next game in Killian.
“They have been instrumental parts of the team. Whenever we plug the hole in the boat with one cork, there becomes another hole.
“And what you can’t do is continually keep plugging holes. That is what it is, we take one cork out and we put it somewhere else because there is a bigger leak. It’s a huge achievement what the players have achieved this season really.
“I wouldn’t say it was one game too far because we have got nine to go, but on days like Saturday – and when we get a kick in the teeth with injuries – it doesn’t help when you have to come to Ipswich.”
Town were originally scheduled to play against Bristol Rovers next weekend, but because three of their players have been called up for international duty the game has been postponed.
This means Town’s next game will be on the road again when this time they make the trip to the capital to take Charlton Athletic in two weeks.
And this was something the boss was less than impressed by.
“It’s another away game – what will that be now, it’s fantastic how these fixtures have fallen,” the boss said when asked about the break his team now has. It’s six out of eight now.
“We had five out of seven including Ipswich, we miss a home game so it’s now six out of eight away games. Ridiculous that is. Absolutely ridiculous.”
The game against the Addicks, while giving Salop a break in the immediate future, means they will now play eight games in April and one in May to close out their League One campaign.
