Shrewsbury boss Askey confident opening win is not far off

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

John Askey believes a first win of the season for Shrewsbury is moving closer after watching his team claim their first point from a goalless draw with Blackpool.

Askey, who replaced Paul Hurst as manager in the summer, saw his side create the game’s better chances, but there was just no way through as Blackpool defended well.

Lenell John-Lewis and Greg Docherty both went close before the Shrews were denied a late breakthrough when visiting goalkeeper Mark Howard produced a fine save to frustrate Josh Laurent.

“I thought the performance was very good,” said Askey. “Again, we’ve created a lot of chances and probably restricted them to one chance, so regards the performance, really pleased.”

Askey, who handed a first start to former Peterborough midfielder Anthony Grant – one of 15 signings he has brought in, added: “I think if anyone came here today and watched the game they would have thought that we deserved to win the game, but if we keep performing like that then it won’t be long till we start winning games.

“There’s one or two you can see are getting better the more games that they have and hopefully that’s the start, the one point, and then we start to move up the table.”

Askey considered it to be Shrewsbury’s best team performance so far this season.

“It is and we looked better balanced as well I thought throughout the team,” he said. “But there was an energy there, we closed down better, we defended better.

“We created a lot of chances and there’s one or two there that on another day would go in, and it’s been the same in other games, but eventually it turns if you keep doing the right thing.”

Blackpool’s interim manager Terry McPhillips was impressed with how his side defended to register a second goalless draw on their League One travels this season.

“I thought the score, the draw, was fair. I thought they were the better team first half. I thought we were slightly stronger than them in the second half,” he said.

“I thought the lads defended the set-plays brilliantly, I was always comfortable with them. We didn’t do enough on our own set-plays.

“I thought they had a good chance first half when (Shaun) Whalley went through. In the end, neither goalkeeper’s had enough work to do, so about right 0-0.”

McPhillips added: “I thought we defended brilliantly. I think they did get that one break where Whalley went through, so all in all really pleased with the defending.”