Ricketts seething about sluggish Shrewsbury start

Sam Ricketts felt his Shrewsbury side took their time to get going as they shared the points from a 1-1 draw with Gillingham.

Stuart O’Keefe’s penalty just before half-time edged Gillingham in front before Omar Beckles equalised for Shrewsbury just past the hour.

Both sides had chances to grab a winner, with substitutes Dave Edwards and Fejiri Okenabirhie both going close for Shrewsbury late on.

Boss Ricketts said: “We were poor, really poor first half, didn’t play with any real speed and intensity in our game, never got going in a game when I thought we could have taken or should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck, especially first half.

“We were just waiting for things to happen, waiting for someone to do something on the pitch as opposed to making it happen.

“Asked for a reaction at half-time, got it in the second half. The longer the second half went on we actually ended up being more positive, more front foot, more crosses coming in the box from better areas and it finished off with ‘Fey’ and Dave Edwards having two good chances to win us the game.

“To be fair, you fancy one of those to go in really off those two players, but ultimately first half was not anywhere near where we want to be at 70 per cent.

“I even thought second half, we raised it probably from 70 per cent to 85, 90. We weren’t anywhere near where we can be, which can happen in football.”

Ricketts, whose team have drawn six of their opening 13 league game this season, added: “The biggest thing is we didn’t lose the game.

“We get back in it. Still take a point from it, so you could look at it and say that it could be a real good point for us later on in the season.”

Gillingham took the lead in the 43rd minute when O’Keefe converted from the penalty spot after Ryan Giles challenged Tom O’Connor.

But their hopes of a first away win of the season were dashed when Beckles guided home a cross from Sean Goss in the 64th minute.

Gillingham manager Steve Evans said: “We’re disappointed. The performance was good, especially long spells in the first half where we’ve dominated.

“We get a penalty for a foul on Tommy (O’Connor). We have two other penalties – I think there’s a clear foul and there’s a clear handball.”

Evans, whose side have now drawn five of their seven away games, added: “Second half, I think they come into the game a bit which you’d expect.

“They get their goal through a poor individual error from us and it seems to be our Achilles’ heel at the minute, poor individual errors, rather than teams carving us open.

“To be fair, we regrouped, we made some changes, we tried to be positive the players we brought on.”