Steve Cotterill delighted with Shrewsbury progression after win over Wycombe

Posted Sunday, February 26, 2023 by PA

Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill is delighted to see the progression at the club after hard work behind the scenes.

Cotterill’s charges made it four home wins on the spin as Jordan Willis’ own goal and substitute Rekeil Pyke’s late effort saw Wycombe start life after Gareth Ainsworth with a 2-0 defeat.

But for the play-off chasing Shrews, victory saw them beat their points tally from last season with 13 games left.

“It was an incredible performance from the boys. I thought the boys to a man had a huge impact in the game,” reflected Cotterill.

“We worked hard for that clean sheet and you’ve got to work hard against Wycombe.

“We’ve had the double done over us a couple of times, like Accrington and Cheltenham.

“We’re just grateful of the three points and nothing else. Let’s hope we get a few more! 51 points will definitely keep us up.

“There’s been so much hard work put into this and not just this year, where people are seeing the fruits of the labour.

“It’s about the foundations we put in all of last year, trying to put together a group of lads who are younger and have their careers ahead of them.

“To do it with our budget, I couldn’t tell you how stressful it’s been. There’s been a lot of hard work that no-one sees.

“The recruitment that we’ve managed to do has been hard work, but on days like today and moments in the dressing room with the lads I count myself lucky.

“You don’t always get it right and let me tell you, when you don’t get it right you don’t half have people telling you.”

Matt Bloomfield’s first game in the Wanderers’ dugout did not follow the dream script of a club favourite, who played almost 500 times for the Chairboys, returning to their old club.

But he said: “It was a tough result for us, we’re very disappointed with the result.

“Who knows if the week the club’s had played into the result? I think there’s always a temptation to read too much into these things.

“I prefer to keep a level head. It’s been a busy week for all concerned and we tried to mitigate that as much as we could.

“There wasn’t too much in the game to be honest and it was the little moments which decided it.

“We’re bitterly disappointed, but we’ll pick the bones out of it and make sure we move on.

“We knew that was going to be a tough afternoon for us and that’s how it turned out.

“It’s small moments which decide football matches and rightly or wrongly they didn’t go our way.

“We feel like both opportunities [for the goals] should have been nullified. We’re disappointed because in my opinion both goals could have been stopped.”