'It takes a lot': Michael Appleton hails Shrewsbury Town response after 'poor' first half in FA Cup win at Sutton
Michael Appleton was pleased by the response shown by his Shrewsbury Town side as they fought back from a goal down to non-league Sutton United to book their place in the third round of the FA Cup with a hard earned 2-1 victory.
Town trailed with 20 minutes to go after Sutton's midfielder Kai Jennings scored directly from a corner kick, but they responded in stoppage time with an Ismeal Kabia screamer to force extra time - which would be played out with both sides reduced to ten men, after Josh Ruffels and then David Ogbonna were given their marching orders.
Substitute John Marquis leapt on a defensive error quickly after the restart to fire Salop in front and that would be the end of the goalmouth drama - although Junior Eccleston was also sent off for an elbow on Chuks Aneke before referee Jacob Miles blew up to signal Town's place in the next round.
Appleton complimented both of his marksmen on the night and hope that the club are now suitably rewarded with a plum tie in January.
"It was a great finish," Appleton said. "He'd almost scored minutes before and, like in golf, when you get your range it gets a lot easier to produce. I have to give the players a lot of credit, because it takes a lot to play as poorly as we did first half and then react, get stronger and stronger as we did and, when it went to extra time I was pretty confident.
"As for John's goal, it was his intelligence too of knowing when to press. He could see it happening before it happened, two or three passes before. It was excellent. I just hope everyone - the fans tonight were unbelievable again, I can't speak highly enough of them - the club, the chairman...that we get a reward in the next round."
As pleased as he was with the second half response, Appleton couldn't hide his anger at the performance from his side in the first half, in which Sutton dominated proceedings without being able to clinch the opening goal that their performance warranted.
"I was deeply frustrated and disappointed with our first half, and how we went about it," Appleton said. "I thought we were much more aggressive in the second half, taking more risk in the press. Their goal rocked us for a few minutes, but as the game went on we got stronger. Going down to ten men doesn't help when you're a goal down, but Kab has scored a great goal. I was really confident going into extra time, especially when it was ten v ten.
"We have played a really good side, in a really confident mood, but in the first half we just weren't aggressive enough. We were too safe. We were much better with it in the second half and extra time too."
