Shrewsbury's Ryan Haynes: I'll banish defending 'cloud'

The summer signing from Coventry, 22, admitted the opinion has been a ‘cloud’ over his fledgling career.

Haynes, who made professional debut for his boyhood Sky Blues club as a 17-year-old, admits the defensive side of his game is something that he has been working on for a long period.

The left-sided defender believes the work has paid dividends and he is already showing his capability at the back, as well as bombing forward.

“Honestly it’s been a cloud over me for a while. A lot of people build opinions of me saying ‘he can’t defend, he can’t do this or that’,” admitted Haynes, who signed a two-year deal at Montgomery Waters Meadow. “I think I’ve proved to everyone I can defend. Don’t preconceive what people say about me.

“This is me, I’m showing what I can do. That’s the story throughout my career, people saying ‘he can’t defend’ but I work on it. I’ve been working on it for years now, not just recently and I think it’s coming together and I’m happy with it.”

Haynes put in a man-of-the-match display on his debut for John Askey last weekend at Charlton and put in another steady performance against Burton on Tuesday night.

Askey’s assistant John Filan said upon Haynes’ arrival that the club were ‘keen for him to defend properly and work hard’.

But the left-back, who made almost 100 appearances for Coventry, believes he will only improve with game time.

He continued: “I’d like to say I’m only going to get stronger, yes. That’s self-belief and it’s massive.

“If I keep playing then I’d like to think I’ll get better.”

Haynes is desperate to repay Town fans for their early season support. The defender is expected to keep his place in Askey’s team for today’s visit of Blackpool.

“They’re so good,” he said of the Shrewsbury faithful. “They’re so loud

.”