Steve Cotterill hails ‘great week’ for Tom Bloxham as new driver nets in cup win

Steve Cotterill hailed a “great week” for Tom Bloxham after the teenager followed up passing his driving test with the opening goal in Shrewsbury’s 2-1 FA Cup victory at Carlisle.

The 18-year-old netted his fourth goal of the season after 11 minutes to put Shrews ahead before strike partner Ryan Bowman returned to haunt his home-town club by making it 2-0 in the 77th minute.

Jordan Gibson’s stoppage-time strike was better quality than a consolation but League Two Carlisle’s interest in the competition ended for another season.

Bloxham marked his latest goal with a steering wheel celebration after passing his test at the second attempt.

“When he was 17, I wanted to get Tom through his driving test, so he was a bit more independent,” said manager Cotterill.

“We sorted him out some lessons but he failed the first one. So, we are delighted for him.

“It was funny on Friday morning because he was in late and we could not get hold of him.

“We thought ‘where is he? When someone is late for 15 minutes you are annoyed but for the 15 minutes after that you start worrying.

“So, we were all trying to get him. Eventually, we managed to get hold of Tom and he said he had passed his test

“We all hid in a dark canteen and he came to the training ground and couldn’t find anyone.

“He ended up bursting through the door. All the lads jumped up and cheered him.

“He is a very popular boy and he has had a great week.”

Cotterill added of the win on his club’s website: “Getting into the third round is something we wanted when we started off. We wanted to look forward to the draw and maybe get a good tie.

“We didn’t want to talk about the draw until we were in it, thankfully we are. We’ll take what we’re given. We have two big games next. We need to evaluate where we are on Monday to see who’s available and go from there.”

A planned protest by home fans against the club’s directors proved a tame one. There was the briefest of first-half stoppages while a few tennis balls were removed while stewards moved in after half-time following the unfurling of a banner.

By then Carlisle might still have been on level terms but Brad Young missed a great opportunity to square the ball for Tristan Abrahams to score into an unguarded net after Marko Marosi’s error.

Assistant manager Gavin Skelton said: “It’s obviously disappointing to be knocked out. But in terms of the performance and effort, it was pleasing.

“We had them camped in second half, but we were on the wrong end of the result.

“We didn’t work the keeper as much as we wanted until right near the end when Jordan scored a great goal. But that is a recurring theme.

“Their first goal didn’t knock our confidence and as the game went on it looked like we might get back into it.

“You can have as much good play and effort, but they are the key moments,” Skelton admitted about Carlisle’s problems in front of goal.

“We hope to make better decisions if that opportunity arises again. But there is no blame.”