Shrewsbury 'are short' says Steve Cotterill after defeat at Bolton

It has been a tough spell for Shrewsbury Town of late, and they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Town battled hard for the first 45 minutes of the game and restricted their hosts to very little in the way of clear-cut chances.

But they tired after the break, and the home side grew in confidence.

Josh Sheehan scored in the 63rd minute to give Bolton the lead, and it could have been more but Marko Marosi was in inspired form in between the posts for Shrews.

And the Town boss says his side knew that it was going to be a tough game when they arrived in Lancashire.

"It’s another tough one to take," the experienced boss said about the game.

"We knew what it was going to be like for us today – it's no different to what we have had for the past six weeks.

"The lads have given everything again.

"We had to sit in there. We knew we would have to conserve energy, stay organised and spring them and maybe take our chance when it comes.

"I don’t remember them having too many chances apart from late on where Marko has made a couple of saves.

"I thought we kept them at arm's length. And we’ve just ended up not blocking that shot on the edge of the box.

"But when these lads have put in the shift they have put in this week – the bottom line is they haven’t got the energy to get to that shot. That’s the bottom line.

"You could record this at any time we have a big run of games, you can play the same interview because they are always all-in. They always give their all.

"But we are short. We are short. That’s the bottom line.

"We are more than down to the bare bones – we are down to the marrow and we have been for about six weeks."