Luke Leahy: Steve Cotterill motivates Shrewsbury
Luke Leahy says Steve Cotterill’s ability to motivate his players whatever the circumstances are is one of the Shrewsbury Town boss’s best traits.
Before Tuesday night’s League One clash against Plymouth Argyle, Salop looked completely up against it.
Cotterill had nine senior outfield players to choose from, and then only named four substitutes, with only goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne having ever made a League One appearance.
The game was just a few days after they put in another great effort to draw against Portsmouth with a depleted squad.
And against all the odds, Town put in perhaps their most spirited performance of the season against the league leaders as they appeared to be inspired by their adversity.
And captain Leahy says that is down to the manager and how he motivated the players with a speech before the game.
He said: “That’s the gaffer, no matter what, he gets 11 players up for a football match. No matter what stadium you are playing at, no matter who you are playing against, that is one of his best traits.
“He will get everyone focused and motivated for the game. It was slightly different the other night because we knew we had three youngsters on the bench – who it would have been really tough to bring on in that kind of game. So we knew all of us were going to probably play 90 minutes barring an injury, so he gave us a very good speech before the game and the atmosphere just started to grow and grow.
“That sums him up, the gaffer, he is a winner, we lost on Tuesday, but after the game, we could tell that he was very proud. He is the manager of the football club and I am the captain of the club and we have got a team to be proud of.”
In the absence of Tom Flanagan, Kade Craig was called in to make his first League One start, and Leahy was pleased for his team-mate.
He said: “He trains how he plays. He is aggressive in training and puts tackles in and wins headers, so I had no worries about him being in that type of game.
“Even on the ball, there were a few passes early on that didn’t affect him, and he carried on, and it’s a credit to him. Also, Blocko (Tom Bloxham) as well. He is still a young boy, but he couldn’t afford to be a young boy. We needed him to man up, and I thought he was magnificent.”
