Steve Cotterill relieved as Shrewsbury advance beyond Stratford

Posted Monday, November 08, 2021 by PA

Shrewsbury manager Steve Cotterill admitted he was a relieved man after his players overcame a nightmare start to win their FA Cup first-round clash at non-league Stratford 5-1.

Will Grocott gave Stratford an early lead before Shrewsbury responded and Ryan Bowman levelled.

Bowman grabbed a second to put Salop ahead before they eased into the hat with further goals from Luke Leahy, Elliott Bennett and Tom Bloxham.

Cotterill said: “I’m happier than what I was after the first 10 minutes, that’s for sure. We said about not giving away any silly free-kicks against a big team.

“Harry (Burgoyne) is disappointed with the shot that’s gone in. It shouldn’t beat him, but he’s not played a lot of regular football. It’s difficult on the keeper, but we gave away a silly free-kick that we didn’t need to give away.

“We gave them a leg-up. What you don’t want then is another goal to go in and, thankfully, that did not happen and we got the equaliser before half-time.

“We were then able to regroup and talk about what we could exploit – and thankfully we did that.”

Stratford manager Paul Davis praised his team despite the heavy defeat.

Davis said: “I’m very proud of the boys – it was all down to a mad eight minutes in the second half.

“Two of the goals you would never have stopped but we’re just disappointed with the goals from crosses because we worked on that in training.

“I’ve just said to the players to be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”