Steve Cotterill felt Shrewsbury did everything but score in Cambridge stalemate

Posted Sunday, March 06, 2022 by PA

Steve Cotterill was delighted with Shrewsbury’s performance at Cambridge despite being unable to find a winner.

The visitors dominated the goalless contest, with Ryan Bowman hitting a post after Dimitar Mitov had saved from Tom Flanagan in the first half.

Cambridge clung on in the final 10 minutes when Daniel Udoh somehow headed over from close range before Mitov saved brilliantly from Luke Leahy.

“I don’t think we can get any closer without actually winning it,” Cotterill said.

“I said to them right at the beginning when I’ve come in here, if you can’t win you don’t get beat but trying to win is everything. Winning isn’t everything but trying to win is.

“We’ve tried to win that game today and we’ve come up a little bit short, but apart from putting the ball in the back of the net I don’t think there’s anything else we could have done.

“We’ve had 20-plus efforts at their goal and they haven’t had a shot on target, and that’s a tough place to come, here at Cambridge. I think Cambridge have done very, very well this season, so I think we’ve played very well here.

“I’m delighted with the players for their efforts, and their enthusiasm to try and win the game. We deserved to win today’s game.

“Our lads have shown all the way through the season great fitness levels, great desire levels, and now they get a little bit of a break.”

Mark Bonner was happy to see his Cambridge side come away with a point.

“We’re delighted to escape with a point because when the games are horrible like that, and they are such a grind and so hard, you’ve got to take something from it,” Bonner said.

“So we’re delighted to keep our unbeaten run going here, and to get a point on a day when lots of teams around us haven’t got any.

“We’re playing against a team who, for their position in the league, have an incredible defensive record. They just don’t concede chances, and we struggled to create too many against them.

“Overall, it’s just a really tough game. It’s our 49th game of the season. The boys are absolutely shot to bits and cannot wait for a couple of days off.”

The point left Cambridge safely in midtable with 10 games to play and Bonner is thrilled with how their first year in League One is going.

He added: “I think it’s remarkable what they’ve done, to be 10 games to go with 45 points. You see how hard it is to win games in this league from every team around us. These guys are doing great.

“It wasn’t a nice game but we’re delighted to take something from it.”