Confidence is still high at Shrewsbury, says John Askey
John Askey will let his players express themselves and not be ‘like robots’ as Shrewsbury hunt for a first win tonight.
The winless Town boss takes his side to Doncaster Rovers after picking up just one point from his first three League One games.
The hosts began with two victories before Saturday’s defeat to Burton.
And Askey will keep to his principles of playing an open, expansive style against Rovers as he backs his players to make the right decisions to get a win on the board.
“I think you’ve got to express yourself. It’s got to be done within the structure of the team when you’ve lost the ball,” Askey said.
“But when you’ve got the ball, as long as you don’t try and over-play in the wrong areas, then you’ve got to be able to make your own decisions. You can’t be a robot, I don’t think. I think we’ve got players here who will make the right decisions and it’ll bring out the best of them.
“I’ve not seen any lack of confidence in the team.
“I think we’ve got a lot of players who can do well at this level. We’ve got a lot of energy in there, they’re athletic but they can also play as well.
“I like that, to have players with pace who can go past people and can pass the ball. That’s what we’re about.”
Askey has a clean bill of health for the trip with Ollie Norburn (dead leg) and Aaron Amadi-Holloway (groin) back involved. Anthony Grant is set to continue in midfield after making his full debut on Saturday.
“I believe everybody’s fit. That’s a nice problem to have,” said Askey ahead of tonight’s visit to the Keepmoat Stadium.
“We’ll see how Anthony does tomorrow. He might be a bit weary from Saturday but I was amazed how well he did.”
When asked if everyone was up to speed in match fitness, he replied: “Pretty much so. Probably Lee Angol and Aaron coming back from an injury aren’t fully match fit but everybody else is.
“It’s probably the first time that nearly everybody’s up to speed. It’s looking promising. We’ll see tonight.”
