"I got the response I wanted" - Shrewsbury Town down but not out
Michael Appleton believes he got a response from his players despite a disappointing 2-1 defeat to MK Dons, writes Jordan Preece.
Shrews remain in the League Two relegation zone, having only won once all season.
The visitors took the lead within three minutes thanks to a Scott Hogan headed effort, and Will Collar sealed the points in the latter stages of the first period.
Experienced forward Chuks Aneke did pull one back in the second half, converting from 20 yards out.
"I got the response I wanted in the second half," said Appleton. "It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t what you would normally see from one of my sides. But it was quite effective in the second half, we made the keeper make numerous saves, which is a good thing.
“We kept going to the end, we won a lot more first and second balls in the second half, which gave ourselves a chance to perform much better. We just gave ourselves too much to do against a very experienced team. I just wanted us to be more aggressive, be on the front foot, win more second balls, make sure we were positive, don’t come away from the press.
“We were too passive in that first half and need to take more risks.
“I thought we took more risks in the second half; there was a little bit of a fear factor in that first half.
“Players not wanting to get on the ball or taking the ball. We certainly did that better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
The hosts had only scored six league goals before Saturday, and on his second appearance in blue and amber, Aneke managed to find the back of the net.
Appleton was full of praise for the striker: “It was great for him and his confidence. Probably more importantly, he got more minutes on the pitch.
“He’s had an extra week’s training under his belt, hopefully he can do the same again next week and maybe feature even more so.
“I have seen him do that many times, and I know what he is capable of and he has a great knack of being in the right place at the right time.
“Certainly, late on in games, and he is going to have to do that if we are going to sort ourselves out and get ourselves out of this position.”
