Shropshire Star

Aaron Wilbraham: Nobody feels Shrewsbury Town results more than the Steve Cotterill

Nobody is more frustrated when Shrewsbury Town lose than absent boss Steve Cotterill, revealed his assistant Aaron Wilbraham.

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Town are looking to end a run of three straight defeats at promotion-hunting Blackpool tomorrow and Montgomery Waters Meadow No.2 Wilbraham says Cotterill’s disappointment after a bad result comes because the manager relishes seeing his players, the only opportunity he gets to ‘see their faces’ all week, writes Lewis Cox.

“The gaffer didn’t want to miss one game, so every game he watches while he can’t be here (is hard),” Wilbraham said of Cotterill, who has been away for four-and-a-half months.

“He looks forward to it, because he gets to see the lads’ faces. He always says to me ‘I look forward to seeing them’.

“I think that’s why, if the result doesn’t go well, it’s why he gets so disappointed. It’s the thing he looks forward to all week, and if it doesn’t go right he gets frustrated, frustrated with himself.

“The sooner he can come back the better, we’re hoping for good news soon. But the main thing is he’s getting stronger and he’s taking the doctor’s advice and everything’s going in the right direction.”

Town have lost three games on the spin for the first time since October – and first since Cotterill’s appointment – and they bid to end those struggles at Blackpool tomorrow.

Tests do not come much harder in League One at the moment. Neil Critchley’s Seasiders were unbeaten in 16, including nine wins, before they suffered a 1-0 defeat at relegation contenders Rochdale on Tuesday.

But the Bloomfield Road side have put themselves in a fine position to be part of the play-offs at the end of the season. Blackpool currently sit fifth, with a three-point buffer to their rivals.

Blackpool were the last side Cotterill faced in person as Shrewsbury boss. The Tangerines were beaten 1-0 at the Meadow on December 29, via a Daniel Udoh goal.

Defeats to Oxford, Doncaster and Wigan have checked Shrews’ progress since reaching 50 points at Gillingham a fortnight ago. Cotterill’s men have a seven-point cushion on strugglers below them, including two games in hand on most.

Wilbraham conceded that having reached the milestone, Town players ‘took a deep breath and relaxed a little, which was not what we wanted to do’.

The assistant admitted that confidence is bound to take a hit after a rare run of defeats, but feels that an improved second half in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Wigan, where Ollie Norburn scored a thumping volley, could help restore some belief.

“It (confidence) is bound to (drop) when you lose a few games,” Wilbraham said. “But this group always want to put it right.

“Although in the first half we weren’t at the races on Tuesday, everyone had the real bit between their teeth in the second half.

“You could see the determination, I think Norbs’ volley said it all, he struck it with a bit of anger and determination that came into the team in the second half.

“Rather than lack confidence from the defeat I think they would have gained a bit of confidence from that second-half performance, so hopefully that’s what the lads are looking at.”

With the end in sight after an exhaustive season and a win needed to mathematically ensure safety, the players have been told not to take their foot off the gas.

“We don’t want to limp over the line, it’s not our style or the gaffer’s style,” Wilbraham said. “We’ve got five tough games and the lads need to be on it.

“It’s hard because it’s been a long, physical season, with the rollercoaster they’ve been through, being at the bottom, and then taking on all the new information from the manager, and then what happened to the gaffer, which hit everyone hard.

“We’ve had a lot to deal with as a football club this year and the lads have been unbelievable. But they understand there’s five games to go and that no-one can take their foot off the pedal until the end.”