Luke Waterfall calls on Shrewsbury Town to start fast

Town recovered from a poor first half at AFC Wimbledon to turn a 1-0 deficit on its head and ease the pressure on manager John Askey with a last-minute winner.

Inconsistency has plagued Salop all season and, on several occasions, Town have put in a significantly better second period after a slow start.

Centre-half Waterfall, the goal hero at Kingsmeadow who now has three goals in as many games, has urged Askey’s men to tighten up as a collective and stop handing opponents easy starts into games.

He said: “It’s something we definitely need to look at and put right. We can’t go into games and be going 1-0 and 2-0 down.

“You can’t do it in this league, you get punished for mistakes.

“Luckily we managed to come out on top at AFC Wimbledon but in other weeks we won’t. It’s something we need to eradicate and put right.

“We need to start doing it for 90 minutes.

“When we do, if we perform like the second half of Saturday for 90 minutes then we’ll win more often than not – like against Barnsley.”

Askey made four changes for Town’s crucial trip to AFC Wimbledon, handing starts to Steve Arnold, Aaron Amadi-Holloway, Mat Sadler and Alex Gilliead.

Goalkeeper Arnold made his Town league debut and striker Amadi-Holloway has found starts hard to come by since his summer Oldham switch.

Both played 90 minutes and pivotal roles in taking three points from south west London. Waterfall believes the impact of Askey’s large squad should not be understated.

The former Lincoln skipper added: “I thought Stevie was excellent. His first start of the season, he was a presence, he came in and pulled some saves off, he was brilliant. We saw what Azza can do in the second half, he’s a big old unit, he’s powerful, quick and he can knock people about.

“He did really well and worked hard for the team, as did Fey. I thought the two lads up top were excellent in the second half.

“Josh Laurent came on and made an impact. It’s a team game, not just about the starting eleven.”