John Askey: Plenty of room for improvement for Shrewsbury Town
Boss John Askey is demanding more from his Shrewsbury Town side despite seeing them run riot in the Checkatrade Trophy this week.
Town have been goal-shy in League One this season with a return of just 10 goals in 12 games.
But Shrews thumped six past Micky Mellon’s hapless Tranmere on Tuesday night as Fejiri Okenabirhie – with a hat-trick – Lenell John-Lewis, Greg Docherty and Omar Beckles all got in on the act.
Despite this, Askey is insisting that Salop raise their standards and not think they have cracked it.
“We hope that things are progressing,” said the boss. “There is still plenty of room for improvement.
“Just because we’ve won six doesn’t mean we’re getting carried away.
“We’ve still got to improve our standards. We’ve got to improve our standards in training.
“We’ll keep improving. I’m sure there will be little setbacks along the way but if we all push in the right direction and the players are giving everything, I’m sure we’ll be OK.”
Saturday’s hosts Fleetwood are 10th in the division but have a poor home record having recorded just one win at Highbury Stadium.
Askey’s Salop will be keen to get off the mark on the road this season, where their record wins three draws and three defeats from six.
One forward pushing to be involved from the off in the north west is Lenell John-Lewis.
The 28-year-old insisted that he is feeling in ‘fantastic’ physical shape after a difficult first season at Montgomery Waters Meadow, and was looking forward to using the Checkatrade Trophy as a springboard into Askey’s first-team thoughts.
John-Lewis, who wore the captain’s armband, opened the scoring with a smart finish on the turn against Rovers before teeing up the impressive Docherty for Shrews’ second.
Askey hailed the frontman’s attitude and called for the rest of the blue and amber squad to match his approach.
“Lenny was captain because he shows a fantastic attitude,” he added.
“Younger ones can look at him and he shows how you do it as a professional footballer.
“He doesn’t always play but whether he’s playing or not, you can always call on him – and he will always give you 100 per cent whether it’s in training or in a game.
“He was the one who got the first goal and that opened the game for us, allowed everyone to push on – settled everybody down.
“It’s important we all show the same attitude as Lenny.”
