Steve Cotterill celebrates long overdue away victory as Shrews tame Fleetwood

Posted Monday, December 27, 2021 by PA

Steve Cotterill was delighted that his Shrewsbury side finally got their just rewards on the road after they claimed a 3-0 win at Fleetwood.

The Shrews went ahead through Ryan Bowman five minutes into the second half, with Josh Vela doubling the lead in the 72nd minute.

Daniel Udoh hit an unstoppable third with 10 minutes left to seal their first away league win of the season.

Cotterill felt his team were deserving winners after a first half devoid of notable action.

“At half-time I felt we needed we needed four more players to come to the party, because I felt we had seven really good performances in the first half,” he said.

“If those four other players could get up another level I thought we could go on and win the game. Thankfully they did.

“It was a great pass from Luke Leahy and a brilliant run from Nathanael Ogbeta. The ball across the box was fantastic and that’s what we brought Ryan Bowman to the club for, he sniffs out those goals and that got us a good start to the half.

“I’m really pleased because everybody talks about our away form but they forget how we’ve performed in some of these games. We’ve deserved more on the road than we’ve got and today I thought we got exactly what we deserved, a comprehensive win away from home.”

Cotterill reserved special praise for Udoh, saying: “The third goal was unbelievable. What a strike by Danny.

“I thought he had a quieter game but he came out in the second half and there isn’t a goalkeeper out there who could save that, it was an absolutely world-class finish.”

Fleetwood boss Stephen Crainey, who this week was put in charge of the Cod Army until the end of the season, admitted his side got what they deserved from a below-par showing.

On top of their loss, Crainey said an injury to Ged Garner leaves Fleetwood with 14 players unavailable due to injury or Covid-19.

“I thought from the first whistle to the 90th minute we weren’t at it at all,” he said. “It’s not like us so from that point of view I’m really disappointed, there are a lot of younger players in the group and we want to them to learn and become men quickly but the reality is that there are three points at stake in every game.

“It’s not under-23s football and I’ve just reminded that young group in there of that. We need to be on it every single day and today we weren’t.

“I would love to be able to say what that can be put down to. I don’t think it’s a lack of effort because they give me everything every day but I just think we were a yard short in every single thing we did, whether that’s passing the ball, getting tight to people and doing the right things or our decision-making.

“So, in that sense I was really disappointed.

“I’m not singling players out, I thought as a real collective it was a real off-day. It’s the first time since I’ve been in charge and I want it to be the last.”