Shropshire Star

John Askey: Shrewsbury Town 'naive' in defeat to Burton Albion

Boss John Askey has called out his side's 'naive' display as Shrewsbury fell to a third defeat in three games under his stewardship.

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Town led early on through Shaun Whalley in their Carabao Cup first round tie against Burton but gifted the Brewers a leveller on the stroke of half-time before the tie was sealed by a penalty after the hour.

After conceding a 90th-minute winner at Charlton on Saturday, Askey was unimpressed with the way his side gifted Burton a way back into the game before the break.

And the boss feels his charges 'panicked' in the second period rather instead of playing the football that had earned them the lead.

Askey said: "It's not a good reaction at the moment.

"I thought we were very naive. In the first half we played well and should've gone in at half-time 1-0 but from our corner we haven't picked up and they've broke.

"We gambled getting out (to David Templeton) and it's cost us.

"From that point we seemed to find it hard work in the second half. They were always going to improve, it probably gave them a lift at half-time.

"Again we've created chances but the second-half performances, once they got the second which was a poor goal to give away, we panicked a little bit instead of playing.

"We were creating chances first half through playing. It's something we've got to learn from.

"The only good thing I can say is that it wasn't three points but we wanted to go as far as we can in competitions like this."

Town lost Ollie Norburn to a dead leg on half hour and Askey said that loss made his midfield unbalanced.

Whalley's opener, the first Montgomery Waters Meadow goal of Askey's era, finished a slick move but Town were unable to create more of the same after the break.

The boss added: "We kept it simple. Kept the ball moving, Shaun gets in and finishes it great. There were one or two Shaun had where we opened them up.

"And Greg (Docherty) should've scored when we opened them up first half.

"Again it's what ifs, but I thought going in a goal up they'd have come out and we'd have got more goals."

Meanwhile, the boss revealed that Sam Jones - who was not involved - turned down a move to Scottish Premiership side Dundee.