Steve Cotterill delighted to continue his strong start as Shrewsbury boss - 7M sport

Steve Cotterill delighted to continue his strong start as Shrewsbury boss



Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2020 by PA

Steve Cotterill delighted to continue his strong start as Shrewsbury boss

Steve Cotterill’s honeymoon period as the new boss of Shrewsbury shows no signs of abating as his resurgent side claimed their second top-two scalp inside four days with a 1-0 win at Lincoln.

On Saturday they triumphed at leaders Hull and they followed it up with another gritty display, with Shaun Whalley’s 38th-minute strike proving enough to secure maximum points against the second-placed Imps.

That takes Cotterill’s tally to eight points from his four games in charge, a statistic he is more than satisfied with.

“Yeah, I probably would have taken eight points from the four matches, but if you look at the two we drew then I think we should have won them too,” he said.

“It was an incredibly difficult game for us – they’re a good side and we knew we had to be organised.

“Lincoln probably put us under more sustained pressure during the game than Hull did and we did well to come through it.

“We’ve got a real tough month, with a load of difficult games back-to-back and it’s a real testimony to our boys the effort they’ve put in.”

Cotterill reserved praise for Whalley and fellow frontman Daniel Udoh, adding: “I’m so pleased when the strikers score, for all the effort they put in. I can’t speak highly of them for what they do for this team. And it was a real composed finish from Shaun.”

Whalley’s decisive goal came after 38 minutes. He caught big defender Lewis Montsma dithering on the edge of his box and nicking the ball off the Dutchman’s toes, he then took his time before slotting the ball past Lincoln goalkeeper Alex Palmer.

City boss Michael Appleton was left frustrated after seeing his side take control for much of the match but failing to convert their dominance into either chances or goals, with Shrews goalkeeper Matija Sarkic seriously being called into action just once – saving from Montsma on the stroke of half-time.

Remy Howarth, making his full league debut for the Imps, also struck a post but that was as close as they came to breaching a solid and determined Shrewsbury rearguard.

“I thought we more than value for the victory, we totally dominated and it was very frustrating,” admitted Appleton, who has now seen his high-flying side lose three of their last four league matches at home.

“They’ve had one opportunity in the game and that’s come from an error by us, I can’t think of another time they were in our box, never mind creating another chance.

“I can’t ask any more from the players, their keeper’s made a save, we’ve hit a post, we’ve had shots blocked on the line, we should have had three penalties. If we do that in most games then we’ll be on the right side of a result.

“They got the goal then they had something to hang on to. We did everything I asked the players for, but the only thing we didn’t do was score a goal.”

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